


Curses

by KisaraMoriarty777



Series: Hazbin Hotel Fanfiction [5]
Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series), Helluva Boss (Web Series)
Genre: Backstory, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Heartache, Heartbreak, Hell Trauma, Long-Distance Friendship, Love Confessions, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Physical Abuse, Possibly Unrequited Love, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:15:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25794967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KisaraMoriarty777/pseuds/KisaraMoriarty777
Summary: Velvet, Vox and Valentino. The Triple V Gang and some of the most feared overlords in Hell...But they were not always this way.Follow the story of Veras, a young moth demon who finds himself stuck working in one of Hell's many porn studios. Struggling to keep his head up and keep himself from snapping. Trying to take control of the very studio he is forced to work at in order to free himself from his boss.Follow the story of Varien, a young television demon who tries to make a name for himself and tries to achive the status as of a respected overlord.Follow the story of Vivian, a young doll demon struggling to accept the fact she is in Hell. Trying to make a name for herself and most of all, trying to survive.While the three try their hardest to make a better life for themselves, they find that they cannot do it alone, nor do they wish to.But is the power that each seeks really what could make them happy, or will it just lead them into a trap of their own making?
Relationships: Alastor/Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Blitzo/Stolas (Helluva Boss), Lilith Magne/Lucifer Magne, Lucifer Magne/Valentino, Stolas (Helluva Boss)/Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Valentino/Stolas, Valentino/Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Velvet/Valentino (Hazbin Hotel), Velvet/Vox (Hazbin Hotel)
Series: Hazbin Hotel Fanfiction [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1638574
Comments: 56
Kudos: 86





	1. Prologue

****

In many fables and fairy-tale, it is quite easy for us to tell the villains from the heroes. The characters we should cheer for from the ones we should shun. The “good guys” are clear as are the “bad guys”.

But seldom is life so simple, for as one grows they begin to realize that the lines often blur. Not only that but oftentimes those who are painted as villains become so due to wrongs which plague their pasts. Heartaches. Loss. Betrayal. All of which can shape a person, or in the case of this story, a demon.

Just like Earth, Hell has its favorite tales and stories. You may be familiar with the tales regarding the feared Radio Demon and his rise to power. You may have heard older tales of Lucifer and his love, Lilith. How they built the many cities of Hell and how they divided the territories. You may even have heard more recent tales of the princess and her hotel. But those, dear reader, are not the focus of this story.

Rather, the tale I shall share with you if you would allow me the honor is the origin stories of the overlord group known as the “Triple V Gang”. In the odd case you are new to Hell and do not know them, they are as follows:

Velvet. Doll demon and specialist in all things social media.

Vox. Television demon and owner of one of Hell’s most popular television studios.

And for the center of this little tale, Valentino. Moth demon and owner of the top adult film studio of Hell.

Now, you may have heard fables before of how these three came to power, but I think you will find that those tales are not quite fully accurate. For there are secrets kept by every demon in Hell. Parts of their pasts only known to those closest to them. And often, these details are not the prettiest.

So, dear reader, I shall say this before we begin. I cannot promise you a happy ending to this tale. I will not you this is a light and happy journey for our three main characters, for that would be untrue and my goal is to reveal the truth, not hide it. This journey will hold sorrow, pain, betrayal, and much more that may just change your view of the seemingly glamourous lives of the overlords.

That said though, I can also tell you that this story is one of love, kindness, and in a strange way, family. I can promise you a story about a bond between three people who needed that support more than any of them will admit.

If you chose to read on, then please do so with an open mind. Allow yourself to meet the Triple V Gang in a new light that you have likely never seen them in before. For you shall see them as they were, not as they are. And believe me when I tell you that the overlords you know now were very different in their pasts.

Are you ready, dear reader? Are you comfortable?

Good. Then without further ado, let us begin.


	2. Falling Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young man by the name of Veras awakens in a strange place he does not recognize. Trying to get a handle on his new reality, he wanders around and runs into two strangers. 
> 
> But are they friends or are they foe?

A bright light seeped through his eyelids and he squinted his eyes.

“My darling shut the blinds, please. It is still early, and we need not get up yet,” he grumbled. When the light continued to shine through, he sighed. He figured that whoever he had been with the night before likely was still asleep and they had just forgotten to close the blinds last night before the two of them spent the night together. A little embarrassing, sure, but it had happened before, and he did not want to bother his overnight partner with shutting the blinds. When he opened his eyes, he had expected to find himself in some expensive hotel room with a beautiful or handsome person lying beside him. However, he was instead greeted to the sight of a place he did not recognize. 

_“Where am I?”_ he thought to himself. The entire world around him was odd. There were large buildings as far as the eye could see. Some were brightly lit up while others were dark. What struck him as very odd were the signs on some of them. A building close to the alleyway he had found himself in had a large sign outside promoting drugs. Others proudly displayed sex or drinking. Or, as he took almost immediate notice of, they promoted murder. The other things he could pass off as him ending up in a shadier side of town, however, not even the shadiest side of town would promote murder. He figured that his best option was to try and find out where he had ended up in, and then figure out how he had gotten there. He had begun walking when he saw a mirror in one of the shops. He was going to check if he had any injuries or any signs on him as to how he had gotten to this strange place, but he froze in shock as he saw his reflection staring back at him.

He had dark red eyes with no pupils in them. His mouth was filled with razor-sharp, pink teeth. He had four long arms and two long legs. He also had large, vibrant pink and white wings as well. He was wearing a grey suit that was tattered and covered in dirt and muck. He turned and he felt a sharp pain in his back. Looking as best as he could, he managed to see the cause of this pain.

Covered by a large X was a gunshot wound. It looked like quite the nasty little injury and the more he looked at it, the more he remembered how exactly he had gotten that. Not only that, but he began to remember bits and pieces of his past as well.

His name had been Veras. Veras Mancini. He had been the leader of one of the largest mafia organizations in Italy. It had been passed down through his family line for generations and when his father passed away, he inherited the family business at the tender age of 11. His sister, younger than him by two years, had helped him run the business. However, she had been killed in a car accident when she was 16, leaving Veras to run things mostly by himself.

He had been taking care of some business overseas in America and had been caught up in some sort of war over a shipping crate caring many valuable treasures. He had ordered the crate to be taken to their personal docks, however, it had been left at the docks of one of the other crime families. Veras had gone there to discuss with the other family what could be done to retrieve the package. He had intended to cut a deal. It seemed, however, that they had no intention of doing the same, for one of the men at the pier pulled a gun…

Veras remembered the pain of the bullet ripping through his back and coming out the other side. He remembered bleeding out on the ground while the sound of gunfire filled the air around him. His men were firing at the people from the other crime family and bodies hit the ground around him. Veras had prayed for forgiveness for his sins as he laid there, and then shut his eyes and awaited the darkness he knew would take him.

It seemed to him that his prayers had good unanswered, for it was painfully clear that he was in Heaven. Either that, he thought, or Heaven was much stranger than he had ever imagined. He chuckled to himself at this and made a quiet peace with the fact he had ended up in Hell. It was not a shock. Sure, he had been a man of faith since a young age and sure, he had prayed in his final moments, but that did not erase all of the sins he had committed during his life. So, he merely accepted this fact and realized that he would have to find some living space or risk spending his first night in Hell on the streets. Being in Hell did, he supposed, explain the odd buildings and landscape.

As Veras walked, he began to realize that everyone around him was some sort of hybrid of human and something else. Not all were human-insect hybrids like him either. There were some that were a mix of animal and human, Others that were a mix of inanimate objects and human. Some creatures were so oddly shaped that Veras could not honestly tell what they were supposed to be a mix of. He walked aimlessly when all of a sudden, a demon in a line green coat jumped in front of him holding a knife.

“Hey! You! Give me all of your money, or I will be forced to…” began the stranger, but Veras was in no mood for that. He merely sighed, twisted the demon’s arm, grabbed the knife, and flipped the demon onto the ground. He put the knife to the demon’s throat.

“Wait! Please!” cried a voice from one of the side streets. Veras turned his head to see a young tiger demon running towards him. She had a frantic look in her eyes, and she was breathing heavily. “Please let him go! We are so sorry for troubling you, sir! Really!” the woman called out. Veras chuckled dryly at this.

“Sure. No bother. This gentleman here only tried to kill me, but I am sure we can put this all behind us and be the best of friends,” snapped Veras. The man on the ground rolled his eyes and gave a huff.

“Actually, I was robbing you. Weirdo,” the man on the ground muttered. Veras stomped his foot hard on the man’s right hand and after a loud scream, the man fell silent with a hateful look on his face.

“Listen. We really are sorry. We… you just looked like you got here a little while ago…” the woman said. Veras understood the meaning behind this clearly. They had thought because he was fresh meat, he would be an easy target for them to jump. They had been very wrong about that, but they were not wrong about him being new. A fact he was willing to share with them if only to revel in the shocked reactions he knew they would have.

“Just got here a few moments ago, actually,” Veras informed them. Both demons gave him a shocked look.

“Really?!” they exclaimed.

‘Yes. Why do you seem so shocked?” Veras questioned. The female demon laughed weakly.

“Why? You took down my cousin like it was nothing! Most fresh meat here don’t know the first thing about how to defend themselves, let alone take down their attacker like that,” she explained. Veras laughed hard at this.

“Well, you and your cousin are either very unlucky or very stupid. See, I ran a mafia when I was alive and human. So, I am very much used to people trying to make a move against my life, or trying to hurt me,” Veras said.

“Well, here you are still new. So… you got a place to stay yet?” she questioned.

“No, I don’t. Why?” Veras answered. The woman gave him a little smile.

“Why don’t you come and live with us?” suggested the woman. Her cousin gave her a look of shock and dread.

“You serious?!” hissed her cousin with acid in her voice.

“Ace, shut it! We either do this or we die. And what good would that do us?!” snapped the woman. Veras could not help but admire her. She was confident and she knew how the game was to be played here. She knew the cards she had, and she knew how to play them well. He really admired that about her. Plus, she was sassy.

Veras weighed his options. On the one hand, killing the two of them would be a show of power and would give him some experience with killing demons. He had not known that demons could die, but from her statement to her cousin, it seemed they could. He could probably find another place to live… but the problem was if he could find one before nightfall, which was likely much more dangerous. He could fight off these demons, but what if stronger ones came to attack him. He had no idea how the system in Hell worked… but he suspected it was based on power and popularity. Neither of which he really had.

So, that left the other option. Let them live and take up the offer. It was not what he wanted to do, however, he did think it was the more logical move. There were really no downsides besides having to live with the person who had tried to rob him…

In that moment, an idea came to his mind. Maybe he could do a little compromise… maybe there were not only two options.

Veras settled on the third option that had come into his mind. With a swift and calculated motion, he cut the throat of the demon on the ground, using a discarded piece of glass that he had found on the ground. He then shot the demon twice in the left thigh with the gun the demon had brought. It had been his signature move when he was human, and he saw no reason to get rid of it now. He waited until the demon on the ground stopped moving and then gave a small shrug.

 _“I suppose demons can die,”_ he muttered to himself. He would have to keep that in mind and be extra careful.

Veras turned his attention back to the woman. He expected her to be angry or upset. To be planning either an escape or an attack. But to his surprise and shock, she was standing there calmly. She gave a little laugh after a few seconds and she crossed her arms.

“So, look’s like you can have his old room. I mean, it is better than taking the couch, I guess. You have to clean it up though. That place is a mess, and I am not going in there. You are probably going to have to fix a few things. He broke things a lot, but I will help cover the pay for it. The living space is roomy, so there is no need to worry about that,” she informed him. Her voice was a neutral tone and she reminded Veras of a saleswoman trying to deal with yet another customer. She seemed completely unphased by the fact that Veras had just killed her cousin. A cousin she, moments earlier, was trying to keep alive.

“You are still offering me a place to live? Even after what I just did?” questioned Veras with his eyebrow raised. She nodded.

“Yeah. Sure. Why not?” she replied with a shrug.

“Why not? My dear, did you miss the whole part where I just killed your cousin in cold blood?” Veras asked. His shock and confusion were very clear on his face. The woman laughed at this.

“No. I did not miss that, but to be honest with you, it is a relief. My cousin was a huge pain in my side. You think you are the first person he tried to jump who could fight back? Please! For every dollar we would make from this, he would lose 20! All that stuff I said back there was just me trying to cover for him. I was going to give him a piece of my mind when we got home, but I guess I don’t have to do that now,” she told him. “At least now I don’t have to seduce people into letting us live. That was bothersome,” she added with a mischievous smirk. Veras could not help but chuckle at this.

“Well, looks like you have a cold side to you, darling,” he said.

“Yeah well, this is Hell. You kind of have to,” she replied. “So, you want that room or not?” questioned the woman.

“I will gladly accept the living quarter,” Veras answered. The woman nodded and she motioned for Veras to follow.

As the two walked the woman told Veras a little bit about herself. Her name was Sugar. Well, that was the name that she went by in Hell. It turned out that most of the demons in Hell used a new name. Not only that, but many saw their Hellish lives as a re-start. A do-over. You could be who you wanted to be, and most people took that as a chance for a full re-set. Name and everything. Sugar hadn’t always been her name in Hell. She had chosen the name “Lilac,” before, but when she had gotten her new job, she had been given a new name and it just stuck.

“Easier just keeping my work name. Less confusing for me and my clients,” she had told him.

“What kind of work do you do?” Veras had asked. Sugar chuckled at this.

“Really are new, aren’t you? I’m a pretty big deal around here. I mean, not enough to afford a big fancy house or anything, but I’m pretty well known. See, I work at the porn studio mostly, but I get a couple of gigs here and there around town,” Sugar explained. Veras was shocked at how openly she spoke about the topic, but he respected her self-confidence.

As she continued on, Veras learned that her boss had given her the nickname. Veras had questioned why he had chosen that name for her, and Sugar informed him that the whole studio was candies and sweets themed. Veras had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at this. He thought that the theme was rather uninspired, but he supposed that everyone was entitled to their own preferences. Veras was hardly the best judge of that stuff anyhow.

See, Veras had never really been interested in pornography. Truth be told, he had never been very interested in sexual activities at all. Sure, he had had a string of lovers during his human life, but it was mostly for his reputation and to rebel a little bit during his earlier years. He never judged anyone for their interests and respected their choice of entertainment and pass times, but for him personally, sex had never been what appealed to him in a relationship. He required more romantic attraction to a person before there was any sort of physical desires involved. Whenever he had done one night stands before, he had done it simply, once again, for appearance sake. Deep down, Veras never really got any pleasure from it. Without emotion and connection, the act simply did not feel the same to him. He would go through the motions and fake it when the time came, but it never really felt right with anyone. Due to this, porn and adult films never held much interest for him. So, he figured that he was likely not the best person to judge the theme for a studio that produced said films.

Sugar went on to mention that she worked for an overlord who ran the porn studio. She informed Veras that, as he suspected, there were many different levels of power within Hell, and the more power you had, the less danger you were likely in from anyone in groups beneath you. Within these groups were also power struggles, and she told Veras that her boss, while not the most powerful in terms of magic or strength, mostly survived thanks to his influence. Most people were not willing to risk the outrage over killing the man responsible for such films that were loved throughout Hell.

“Why do you work there? I mean no disrespect by that and if you enjoy the work than all the more power to you… but it is just that… I am sure you could find other means of employment,” Veras questioned. Sugar stopped walking when he asked this and turned to him.

“The pay is pretty good. I sometimes get free housing too. Mostly just for a night or two, but it helped when my cousin was having one of his moods and I needed out. Chaps buy me stuff too, and most of the clients treat me pretty good,” she replied to him. Veras could not help but notice that her voice was a little quieter, but he was unsure if it was just because she didn’t want to draw attention to them as it was getting later, or if it was because of something else. Veras decided to try and switch the subject to avoid any sensitive topics.

“Speaking of pay, I have to get a job. If I am going to be living with you, I am going to be paying my part of the rent. After all, with your cousin gone, it is the least I can do to help with the money situation,” Veras said. They continued to walk and arrived at the house shortly after his comment. When they were there and Sugar had unlocked the door, she turned to him.

“You know, I have a few contacts that work for various mafia groups in Hell. With the skills that you have, I could see you making a good addition to the group. Plus, people around here die all the time, so I am sure there must be a position open,” she suggested, holding the door open for him. He thanked her and walked into the apartment. It was fairly spacious and smelled like lavender. There was a small kitchen, a living room with a television and fireplace, two bedrooms that were joined by a bathroom in the middle, and a laundry room. Once Veras was done looking around the place, he walked over to Sugar.

“That is a very kind offer, Sugar, but I would not wish to inconvenience you in any way,” he told her, earning a laugh from the tiger demon.

“Sweetheart, I am the one that offered. If it was going to be troublesome for me, I wouldn’t have said anything about it, now would I? Besides, I am meeting one of these clients tonight, so I can just ask him after I have finished my work,” she insisted. Veras raised an eyebrow.

“Tonight? Isn’t it a little dangerous to go out right now?” he asked. Sugar blushed at this.

“Hehe… yeah… about that. See… I might have forgotten to mention that sometimes my clients like to come over here for their services. They don’t stay long, and I will keep them out of your room… but… yeah. It helps make some extra money on the side and I get higher ratings. People like seeing people they know on the screen, I guess. Or maybe it makes them feel special. Maybe they just remember the good time they had with me in person. I don’t know and I don’t care. It makes me good money, so why would I complain?” Sugar told him. Veras nodded at this.

“Very well then, I suppose. I will simply busy myself during those times then. I will make sure to leave you and your clients undisturbed,” Veras assured Sugar. She laughed a little bit at this.

“For an ex-mafia guy, you are quite the gentleman, aren’t you?” chuckled Sugar. It was Veras’s turn to blush at this.

“I suppose I am. Though, I would much rather be seen as a gentleman than as a brute,” he replied.

“Fair enough,” Sugar said to him. She then headed to the kitchen and began to prepare dinner. As the two eat, they discussed plans for chores and splitting up tasks. They talk a little bit more about how Hell worked and Veras told Sugar about his days in the mafia. A strange sense of homesickness washed over him as he spoke, and he tried his best to push those thoughts away. He would have to get used to his new life. There was really nothing else he could do.

It was late that night when a limousine pulled up to the house. A demon in a very expensive looking suit came out and knocked on the door. Sugar, who was now dressed in a long, flowing red dress and wearing matching red lipstick, opened the door with a smile.

“Hello darling,” said the lizard demon outside the door.

“Hey baby. Come on in,” Sugar flirted, but it soon became very clear that the lizard demon was paying no mind to her. He instead walked over to the couch where Veras was sitting, trying to read a book quietly. Veras only noticed the lizard demon when he walked right up to him and sat down beside him on the couch.

“Sugar didn’t tell me that we would be having a newbie joining us today. But I don’t mind. The more the merrier. Especially one this… delicious looking,” the lizard demon purred. Veras did his best to not break the demon’s arm as it slunk around his waist. After all, as disgusting at this demon was, this was his potential new boss, and he figured breaking his arm was not a great first impression.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I am not going to be joining you. I just live here,” Veras told the lizard demon. The lizard demon turned to face Sugar with a confused expression.

“Lives here? What happened to your cousin?” asked the lizard demon. Sugar gave a bored expression and shrugged.

“Got himself killed by some guy he tried to jump. Found his body in an alleyway. This guy was looking for a place to stay, and I had a room open,” Sugar explained, leaving out the key part about Veras killing her cousin. The lizard demon chuckled at this.

“Well, looks like you were quite the lucky man,” he said to Veras. Veras forced a smile.

“Yeah. Seems like it,” he muttered as he returned to his book.

“Shame you won’t be joining us though,” the lizard demon said with a sigh of disappointment. “Handsome thing like you. Could have had fun,” he added before standing up and making his way to Sugar.

“Ready to go?” asked Sugar in a sweet and cutesy voice. The demon nodded and followed Sugar into her bedroom.

The walls in the house, it turned out, were exceptionally thin. The two were in the bedroom for over four hours, and from the sounds of it, they were very busy during all that time. Veras had tried his best to drown out the sounds, but there was not much he could do. He did not want to turn on the television because it could disturb them and he had promise Sugar he would not do that, but without that, there was nothing he could use to drown out the sound. He tried focusing on his book, but the mood was somewhat ruined by the happenings in the other room. Instead, he merely began cleaning around the house and trying to make it look a little neater. It was a good pass time, and somewhat kept his mind off _other_ things. After the two were done and the demon had returned home, Sugar walked over to Veras with a bright smile on her face.

“So, I have some good news for you! I talked to Tegu and he said there was a position open! One of the group’s drug dealers died in some freak accident at the docks, so they are looking for a new guy fast. Business goes on, I guess. Anyhow they are pretty desperate for a new dealer, so Tegu agreed on an interview with you pretty easily. Normally those crime families are tightknit, but he seemed like he just wanted to hire someone fast. Your interview is tomorrow morning, by the way,” Sugar informed him. Veras was a little bit disappointed that he would have to start out as a dealer, but he supposed that this was not a bad place to start. He would have to work his way up, but it was better than nothing.

“Thank you for this,” he said. She smiled.

“Don’t mess this up, ok? I kind of like you, so I don’t want you dying on me just yet. Got it?” she said to him. She had a goofy smile on her face, but he could hear the genuine worry in her voice. He gave her a soft smile.

“I promise I won’t get myself killed,” he swore to her. She nodded, content with this answer, and then the two headed to bed. Veras slept on the floor in her room using some spare blankets and pillows. He had seen the state of her cousin’s room and told her in no uncertain terms that he would not be sleeping there until he had gotten a chance to disinfect everything. The whole place reeked of sadness and death, and he even saw some corpses of bugs and other creatures in the room. Sugar had laughed at this and told him he could take the floor. She even helped him to set up his little fort on the floor.

“Hey, I don’t think I caught your name,” she said to him. Veras hesitated but decided to tell her his human name. He was far too tired to come up with a new one and figured that he had time to make a new one later on.

“My name is Veras,” he told her. She smiled at this.

“I like that name. It is pretty,” she replied.

“Thanks,” he called to her. She turned around in the bed so that she was looking down at him.

“Goodnight, Veras. You should get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow,” she whispered before turning back around and falling to sleep. Veras shut his eyes and smiled in the darkness.

He was beginning a new life here. He had no idea what it would bring, but he knew that he would survive it. He was not going to give up. He would fight any fight he had to, and he would make a name for himself. He was going to be alright. He just had to show that he was not a man to mess with.


	3. Rolling in the Deep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at Vox's life before he was Vox

Vox had been in Hell for quite some time when Veras arrived, though it would be another while before their paths crossed. But that is a story that you shall hear later on. For now, let us take a look at Vox before he was the overlord that you may know his as. Before he even became Vox.

He began his time in Hell under the name Varien. In his human life, Varien had been a mildly successful businessman. He had built his own television company from scratch and it had all started innocently enough. It had always been his passion and as soon as he had saved up the money, he began trying to build himself a little television empire. And people loved his shows. He hosted, directed, and produced it all by himself. It was extremely hard work, yes, but in the end, Varien felt it was worth it, for he went home feeling like a million dollars, even if he wasn’t necessarily making that much. The money mattered little for him at the beginning.

But that mentality can only carry you so far, for there were bills and rent to pay. He needed money for food and for living expenses. He needed money to run his shows and keep the company alive. Though he had gotten some loans, those only got him so far and now people were expecting him to pay them back. He barely had the money to stay afloat as it was, but the nagging fear of going into debt began to eat away at him after a bit of time struggling with the bills. To make matters worse, there was a boom in the entertainment industry. People who were trying to scrap themselves out of the hole the Great Depression had left them in. Trying to make their name in acting, singing, directing, or something else. New companies starting up that had bigger endorsements in them.

When the boom in the industry happened, Varien nearly lost everything. Though people loved his show, it was not actually all that unique. There were plenty of new shows popping up that resembled his. Not close enough that he could file a lawsuit, but close enough that the viewers would likely move on from his show and watch the newer, more flashy show. And these new shows were run by people who had extremely powerful ties in the business.

Two big mistakes that Varien had made were in his knowledge of the industry. He had not realized that it was an industry that moved so fast, and he had not realized that it oftentimes relied on who you knew and what ties you had. Not all the time, but it did help if you knew a few people in the business. Varien, however, was not lucky enough to have these ties or pulls of influence. Varien came from a line of tailors and he was the only one in the family line for quite some time to try and make their name in the entertainment industry. His great-grandfather had tried, but just like Varien, he had not realized how the industry worked and he sold his company pretty quickly. So, he was the only one still in the industry from his family. And it was not like he had many friends he knew in the industry who could help him out. He was not close to any directors, producers, or even actors.

But Varien was not going to follow in his great-grandfather’s footsteps. While his great-grandfather had sold his company when things were getting a little too rough, Varien was not interested in doing the same. He was prepared to do anything other than that. And that was exactly what he did. He began relying on less… morally sound ways of business.

It began with a few threats and bribes. He would hang out in the wrong parts of town and see which producers or directors were frequent visitors to those places. He would snap a few pictures and use these to have some leverage over them and would use these to get his way. When money began to roll in more and more, he would find out which critics and actors were willing to take bribes to do the things he wanted. Actors would work longer hours than they were supposed to, and critics would write amazing reviews for shows they had not seen once.

When the money rolled in faster and in large sums, he found that he could reach out to all sorts of people. There were plenty of criminals who were willing to take a bit of pay from a celebrity to ruin the life of another celebrity. Some were even willing to do it for a simple autograph, but these were only the hardcore fans. There were not many of those, but Varien was not about the complain about having the odd job done for free here or there. He would hire people to “scare” the competition. Sometimes he would hire people to sleep with his competition, and then snap a few pictures of them together. These jobs were saved for married competitions whose marriages were already on thin ice. They were very easy to pressure with just a few images. It was not his favorite method to use, but it was effective nevertheless, and that was all he really cared about.

Varien’s business did extremely well after he began to deal on the darker side of things. He saw a rise in views and his fans had no idea about what happened behind the curtains. He suspected that they really did not care about what happened behind the scenes. They just wanted a good show, and Varien was happy to provide them with that. They loved him and critics that were not on his payroll even began writing positive reviews of his works. Of course, he had some of the greatest actors and crewmen working on his sets, so that helped. Yes, things were going extremely well for the young businessman…

But karma always catches up with you, and Varien was no exception to this little fact.

It turned out that his criminal side life was actually not as unknown as Varien had originally believed it was. A competition from a rival company had learned through a mole in Varien’s company that he was not as clean as he would have liked people to believe. The rival had approached Varien about this information, and Varien had tried to play innocent. That was until the rival produced some images of him bribing an actor to work late. It was clear that the rival planned to use this information to blackmail Varien. Varien, however, was not at all in the mood to deal with that. He was not thinking straight. He had had a long day and had taken up drinking to try and deal with the stress. The combination of sleep deprivation and alcohol made his decision-making skills take a nosedive. So, he pulled out a hunting knife that he carried with him. What he had not expected was for the man to pull a gun and shoot him without hesitation. Perhaps, had the man hesitated, Varien would have realized his situation and would have tried to cut some sort of deal. But the man was not willing to take that risk and he fired. He walked out of the studio, leaving Varien to bleed out on the floor. It was hours before anyone would find his corpse, and by that time, he was already on his journey to Hell. When Varien arrived in Hell, he was not all that shocked. The odd buildings only served to further his suspicions about where he had ended up. No. None of that shocked him.

What did shock him to the point that he screamed was the fact that his head was now a television. When he had arrived, his head had felt odd, but he had chalked it up to simply being a headache. That was until he saw his reflection in a puddle and fell hard to the floor. His eyes were a deep red and had swirl-like patterns in them. He had a mouth filled with razor-sharp turquoise teeth. All at once, he became very aware of the energy racing through him. It did not hurt, but it did feel odd. It was as though every part of him was on fire, but yet the fire did not harm him. He felt, oddly and ironically, more alive than he had felt in years. Varien looked down to see that he was dressed in the same outfit he had died in. Bullet holes included it would seem. He grumbled at this.

“Great. Guess I have to get a new outfit now,” he muttered. It then occurred to him that he had no way to pay for new clothing… or anything really.

Varien began to feel a sense of worry creeping in. He knew it would be dangerous staying alone outside and while he could handle himself fine enough, he was still not really a fan of that idea. Assuming that he did survive his first night in Hell, there was still the issue of a job and housing. Judging by the hunger he was feeling, demons needed to eat. If that was the case, he would have to find a way to get money quickly. He was not sure if demons could die of starvation but if they could not, that might be worse. He did not want to have to live with the feeling of starving to death for the rest of… well, forever.

Varien began wandering around Hell, seeing no point simply standing there and wallowing in his pity. He had been wandering around when he spotted a job listing on a poster board in the distance. He found out at that moment that, if he focused hard enough, he could enhance his sight and zoom in to focus on an object in the distance.

“New? Bored? Out of the job? Well, you are in luck! The Fire Pit is hiring! All you need to be able to do is clean blood off the floors and don’t ask questions! No! Seriously! You will be cleaning blood off stuff! If you don’t like blood… you are… you are in Hell. Suck it up,” read the poster.

 _“Interesting way of trying to get people to sign up,”_ thought Varien. Then again, they were in Hell, so he supposed things worked differently here. _“The Fire Pit, huh? Sounds like a place where one could find some decent pay,”_ Varien thought to himself further. He took one of the small clippings from the newspaper and he held it tightly in his hand as he went in search of this mysterious place. The job listing had an address on it but navigating the streets of Hell was not easy.

Varien was lucky, as the Fire Pit was not very far from where he had appeared. Not only that, but it was very well promoted and lit up. The Fire Pit, it turned out, was a fight club. According to the signs around the place, it was one of Hell’s top fighting clubs. Varien entered the building and saw awards and trophies that seemed to back up the claims of the outside signs. He looked around and took note of the fact that, besides him and a man who seemed to be a manager, there was no one else in the building.

 _“But this place seems to be so popular? Why is it so empty?_ ” Varien thought to himself. The manager seemed to see this confusion and he laughed.

“Pretty dull looking, right? Trust me, it gets better at night. That is when the folks start to flood in to fight or to watch the fights. The place gets mighty crowded during those times,” called the manager. Varien nodded at this.

“I will have to keep that in mind,” Varien replied.

“My goodness! So formal! You can loosen up a little! You seem so uptight!” the manager exclaimed. He walked up and clapped Varien on the shoulder. Varien forced out a nervous little chuckle.

“R… right. I will try,” he said. The manager offered him a smile.

“Trying is the best we can ask of you. As long as you try, I am sure we will have a lovely working relationship,” said the manager.

“So, what exactly would the job entail? I mean, I know that the advertisement mentioned cleaning up blood, but where would that blood be coming from?” Varien asked. The managed gave a hearty chuckle at this.

“You should never ask where the blood comes from. Not when you are in Hell, at least. You might not actually want to know the answer,” warned the manager. When Varien hesitated to answer due to his loss of words at this response, the manager began laughing once again. “But that is not the case here, dear sir! No! This here is just your regular old fight club! All of the blood you will have to clean up will be perfectly legal even by Earth's standards! Just like what happens here as… more extreme boxing. Oh? Do you know what boxing is?” rambled the manager. Varien nodded at this.

“Yes. I know what boxing is,” he replied. Varien did his best to hide the odd sense of insult he felt at the question. He would have thought maybe it was because this demon thought he was from a time before boxing, but the judgemental look in the demon’s eyes showed him that the reason behind the question had nothing to do with what time period Varien was from. No. It was simply the demon judging Varien based on his appearance.

At that moment, Varien came to a realization. It was not going to be enough for him to simply get a job and stay in the shadows. No. He could be whatever he wanted to be here. There were no limits other than the ones that he set for himself. If he wanted that famous television show or if he wanted to simply own a station for himself, he could do that. He was a demon now! Here, the things he did on Earth were not only allowed, but they were encouraged. They were the norm here. He did not have to limit himself anymore. All he had to do was gain that money, power, and respect that he so deeply craved on Earth. Once he had that, he was set. And this seemed like the perfect place to start.

“The fighters. How much do they get paid per fight?” Varien asked. The manager blinked a few times in confusion and shock.

“Are you asking for a friend or something?” he questioned. Varien shook his head.

“Nope. No friend. Just me being curious about it,” Varien replied. The smile faded from the manager’s face, and Varien had to hold back a smirk. So, the kind guy face was simply an act. A smart business move, but one Varien was no stranger to.

“Are you joking? Tell me you are joking. This is just you trying to pull my leg, right? You?! Fight?! Please! You would just cost us…” began the manager, but Varien quickly cut him off.

“I will pay my own admission. It would cost you nothing. You can even bet against me until I start doing well in fights. That way, you don’t lose any money on the fights. I will earn my money cleaning and I will fight at night,” Varien bargained. The managed took a moment to consider this offer.

“If you win, I get seventy percent of the bet earnings,” the manager said.

“Fifty percent,” countered Varien.

“Sixty. Take it or leave it,” the manager snarled. Varien knew better than to push his luck and he held out his hand for the manager to shake. The manager’s old smile returned to his face and he shook Varien’s hand.

“Thank you for this opportunity,” Varien said.

“You know, you have got ambition, kid. Don’t think you can back it up, but I am willing to take a chance on you. And like you said, it ain’t my money you will be losing!” laughed the manager. Varien thought about how it, technically speaking, was the manager’s money as he was the one paying Varien for his day job, but he thought better against mentioning this. Instead, he faked a smile and nodded.

“Of course. Well, now that that is settled, I should be off. I need to find somewhere to stay before nightfall,” Varien told his new boss.

“Good luck. Don’t want you dying out there before you can make me some cold hard cash,” howled the boss. Varien was trying so very hard not to snap and kill the man where he stood.

“Right,” was all he trusted himself to say. He moved his hand back and made his way out of the building. He was turning a corner when he heard someone calling to him.

“Excuse me! Sir! Please! Wait!” cried the voice of a young woman.

“Yes?” Varien asked as he turned to see a young demon who seemed to be a mix of human and angler fish. She had clearly chased after him and was considerably out of breath.

“I heard that you were looking for a place to stay!” she said. Varien raised an eyebrow at this.

“How did you know that?” he asked. She blushed at this.

“Well… I might have been listening in to your earlier conversation,” she admitted.

“You were?” Vox questioned. He knew she had followed him, but he had not seen her at the fight club and had assumed she had just seen him on the street he had just come from. The woman had a sheepish look on her face as she replied to him.

“Um… yeah. See… I am your new boss’s sister…” she told him. Varien blinked in surprise at this.

“You… what?!” Varien exclaimed. The manager had been so cruel and two-faced, only using his charm to get his way. This young lady seemed far too kind and sweet to possibly be related to him. Varien had only just met her, but the innocent look in her large pink eyes made him think that she and her brother must have been opposites.

“Yeah. Gloves and I are siblings. I help run things at the Fire Pit behind the scenes. Mostly just the boring stuff, to be honest. Paperwork. Contracts. That kind of thing. Anyhow, I heard you and Gloves talking and heard that you mentioned you needed a place to stay. I own a small flat in town if you wanted to stay there until you find a place of your own,” offered the young lady.

“I… I don’t think that would be very professional of me. I doubt your brother would take kindly to me living with his sister,” Varien replied. The woman crossed her arms and gave him an upset look.

“Well, Gloves doesn’t control me. I do what I want,” she replied.

“And does that always include inviting strangers to live with you? I mean, you hardly know me at all. All you know of me is… what? One conversation you overheard and this one conversation we are having now,” Varien brought up. The woman looked down at this for a moment, but then looked back up at him with a bright smile on her face.

“You seem sweet. You don’t really strike me as the sort who would try and take advantage of the kindness of a fellow demon,” she answered. Varien raised an eyebrow at this.

“We are in Hell. You should be more careful who you trust,” Varien said. Though he had committed plenty of sins during his time on Earth, he figured there were people in Hell who deserved to be there much more than he did. Not only that, but who would take advantage of this young woman’s kindness without a doubt.

“Thank you for being so considerate, but I am really fine. I have been down here a while. I can take care of myself,” she insisted. Varien sighed. The offer she had was a good one, even if it was one that struck him as odd. She seemed like a good enough person too. She was kind and though Varien thought she was very naïve, she seemed like the sort of person that would give him his space should he request it. So, he let out another little sigh and nodded.

“Ok. I will take you up on your offer. But, if your brother fires me over this, I will be very upset,” replied Varien.

“Great! This should be a ton of fun! Thank you for saying yes! Oh! I am An, by the way. Or Ange. Either works fine,” she excitedly told him.

“Nice to meet you, An,” Varien said. “And as much as I think you should not invite strangers to live with you… thank you for the offer. It was truly very kind of you,” Varien told her. An gave him a shy little smile.

“There is no need to thank me. I know being new here can really stink, but I want to try and help people as much as I can,” she replied. She began to walk and Varien followed, as he figured she was likely heading to her house.

“Hey… uh… you seem like a really sweet gal. If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here? In Hell, I mean,” Varien asked in a soft voice. An froze at this. She took a moment to collect herself before walking further.

“For a while… I have struggled with a pretty big problem. It kind of just… nags at me. In the back of my mind. It is always there and eventually, it was too much. I gave into it. Once I did, it was so hard to stop. It made me so some bad things on Earth. When I woke up here, I promised myself I would try and do good. Try to shut that voice in my head up and lock it away. But sometimes… it still gets too much, and I give in,” she admitted. Varien put a gentle hand on her shoulder and walked beside her.

“Thank you for sharing that with me. If there is ever anything I can do to help with it, I will,” Varien said. She gave him a sad little expression.

“That is truly so sweet of you to offer, but this… it is just something I have to learn to work through on my own,” she told him. Varien nodded understandingly.

“Take all the time you need, An,” he replied. She looked a little bit relieved at this, and Varien could not help but smile. Sure, she was an odd demon, but she was honest at least. More so, Varien was glad that she felt confident around him. Felt comfortable enough to share something like that about herself. He could see the two of them ending up as good friends.

They arrived at the flat in no time, and An gave him the full tour. It was a quiet little flat with many printed images of Earth scattered around the place. He was shown to the guest room, which had a closet, bed, desk, and lamp in it. There were two bathrooms and An told him he could use the one that was closest to the bedrooms. She said she thought that it would be move convenient for him, and he agreed. When they arrived in the kitchen, Varien noticed it smelt heavily of roses and pine. He looked around and was greeted with the sight of air freshers on the windowsill, fridge top, and many other places around the kitchen.

“I like making it smell like Earth. It makes me feel less sad,” explained An. Varien suddenly felt extremely homesick in that moment. He had not thought much about it earlier, as he had been in survival mode, but he missed Earth. His human life. He did not have a lot of people that he was close with, but there were some. Did they even know that he was dead yet? Was his killer caught? Would his killer go free, or would they be brought to justice?

“Does anyone even miss me?” Varien whispered.

“Are you thinking about your human life?” she asked. Varien nodded.

“Yeah. I just… I was not expecting to die. I thought that I had time left. I had ideas. Plans. Hopes. Dreams. And now… it is all gone,” Varien rambled. He felt a few tears fall and An gave him a sympathetic look. 

“I figured as much. You have bullet wounds on you,” she commented, causing Varien to blush.

“Oh. Yeah. Nearly forgot about those little things,” he softly spoke through tears.

“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up. I have some old clothes in the bedroom from an ex-boyfriend of mine. You can have those until you get some stuff for yourself,” she offered.

“Thank you,” began Varien, but a thought came to mind, and he paused. “He… won’t he want his stuff back? Your ex-boyfriend, I mean,” Varien asked.

“I doubt it. He made it pretty clear when he left that he was not going to be coming back under any circumstances. It… the breakup was pretty rough on both of us, but I had a hard time recovering after it. It really messed me up. It was for the best though. He was a cruel mister sometimes,” An explained. She said nothing else as she walked to the bathroom closest to the kitchen. Varien followed her and when she motioned for him to sit on the side of the bathtub, he did. An pulled out the first aid kit and began to patch up some of his wounds. Patch up might have actually been the wrong word. The wounds, while still very clear and very much there, were not actually bleeding. They were, simply, there. Still though, she dressed them and treated them as though they were fresh wounds. Varien did not protest to this. He saw little point criticizing her kindness.

Once An had finished, she handed him a set of new clothes and left so that he could change. The clothes were a tad bit too large for him, but they were a close enough fit that he could get away with using them for now. It was better than having bullet holes in the clothing, he decided. Varien opened the door with a smile.

“Thank you for your help and for the clothes,” Varien said. She smiled at him.

“You are most welcome. By the way, you never told me your name,” she replied.

“Oh! Sorry! That was very rude of me! I suppose I was just overwhelmed by everything. My name is Varien,” he answered. An raised her eyebrow at this.

“You are keeping your human name?” she asked him.

“I… I was under the impression that that was something that you had to do. Wait, is An not your human name?” Varien gasped. An shook her head at this.

“Nope. My human name was April, but I changed it once I got here. Most people do. It is not something that is mandatory or anything, but I think people like the idea of a fresh start,” she explained. Varien took a moment to consider this.

“A new name, huh? So many to chose from. So many options. What to do? What to do?

“How did you pick your name?” Varien decided to inquire.

“Well, it was a pun about my demon form. I am an angler fish, so I chose An or Ange. A lot of people do things based on their demon form or based on their personality, job, or hobbies. Like my brother. He runs a fight club, so he chose the name Gloves. It was just what felt right,” An shared.

 _“That explains the odd name,”_ thought Vox. He had thought Gloves was just the nickname An had for her brother but had not realized before that that was his actual name.

Varien thought about this new information An had shared with him. A pun or name that fits with his demon form? Well, he was a television in a way, so there were things he could do with that. But he did not really feel that it fit. A nickname based on it, sure, but not his name. He wanted his name to have meaning. A flow to it. Style. Something that fit him as a person, not only the exterior…

“Vox!” exclaimed Varien after a few moments of silence. An gave him a confused look.

“Vox?” she asked.

“Yeah! It is short for vocals, and I believe that it means voice in Latin. I was a television host in my past life, and people would always tell me I was born for the job. They told me my voice just fit,” explained Varien.

“Vox, huh? I like it. It is creative and it seems to fit you from what you said,” An told him. Varien gave a proud smile at this.

“Thank you. I think I am going to keep it. Has a ring to it,” Varien, who was now Vox, replied.

“Sounds good,” An giggled. She then took on a serious expression. “If you are going to be a professional fighter, you will need a couch. Luckily for you, I know many and I know the best ones. I will get in touch with a few the next time that I can,” An offered.

“Really?! T… thank you! That would be amazing!” Vox replied.

“Of course. Anything that I can do to help. It makes me feel like… maybe there is still a little bit of light left in me yet,” An told him in a hushed voice. She seemed so fragile in that moment. So sweet and innocent. Vox could see her trembling and he walked up to her. He gently lifted her chin so that her pink eyes stared into his crimson red ones.

“I truly do think there is good in you, An. I think that, if anyone here still has goodness in their heart, it is you. After all, you have already done so much to help me,” he whispered to her. The room filled with a soft silence. Vox could see that An was breathing quicker now and he saw a little twinkle in her eye. One he worried was fear or panic.

“I… I… um… thanks. T… that is very k… kind of you to say,” An managed to stammer out. Vox stepped back, worried he had crossed a line by accident.

“Yeah. You are welcome. And… uh… sorry about that. I didn’t mean to invade your space like that. It was very impolite of me. I do hope you can forgive me. It will never happen again,” Vox promised. His face was bright red and he was hoping that she did not hate him now. He was not sure what had come over him but felt awful if he had made her uncomfortable. While he was lost in his worries and thoughts, An did something that took him by surprise.

She grabbed Vox’s tie, pulled his close to her, and kissed him.


	4. Let Us Adore You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our first look into the origins of Velvet, who began life as a human named Vivian. 
> 
> Please read the note at the beginning before reading the chapter! This chapter deals with some pretty heavy themes and content, so please read it before you read the chapter!
> 
> The triggers are listed in the note at the beginning, so please pay close attention and remember that your mental health and safety are extremely important!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear Readers, 
> 
> I just wanted to put a bit of a warning out for this chapter, as it does deal with some heavy content. If any of these things are triggers for you or make you comfortable in any way, please feel free to skip over this chapter. 
> 
> Triggers are listed below: 
> 
> 1\. Mention of prostitution  
> 2\. Death of a child character  
> 3\. Death of a teenager character  
> 4\. Starvation  
> 5\. Vehicular Manslaughter  
> 6\. Mention of abandonment (Vivian's father leaves when she is pretty young)  
> 7\. Mention of cheating
> 
> Again, if any of these things are a trigger for you, please skip ahead. I will post a recap of this chapter in the next Vivian chapter for anyone who chose to skip this chapter. The recap will leave out any triggering events. 
> 
> If you do read ahead in the chapter and find some of the information hard to get through, just remember to take breaks and leave the chapter if it is getting overwhelming. Your mental health and safety come first. 
> 
> Sincerely
> 
> The Author

Hell is quite an odd place. It is filled with all the sinners of Earth, and due to this, it means that Hell has a population with quite the range and variation of sins. For an example of this, you need not look further than the V gang. See, Veras used to run a mafia group and was no stranger to the sin of lust, though it was not his first choice of sin. Varien or Vox had the sin of pride and the sin of greed, and due to this, he would commit illegal acts and immoral acts. However, the third and final member of the V gang only really committed sinful acts during her human life to help her family to survive. And aside from those acts… well… her only other sing was not believing in divine beings. So dear reader, I invite you to dive into the very first chapter of the overlord, Velvet’s, story, in regards to her time in Hell, and in regards to how she got there.

Velvet began life as Vivian. She was born to Mary and Paul Tucholke. Mary was a baker and Paul was a struggling woodcarver. The family was already tight on money and they were struggling to provide for the son that they already had. So, worry was setting in when Mary found out that she was with child. Still, the couple decided to have the baby, as they both longed for a sibling who could keep their young son company. Mary gave birth to Vivian during a quiet fall evening, and they named her after her grandmother. Mary and Paul gave both Vivian and her brother all the love and attention that they could, dreaming of peaceful and happy futures for both. Despite these hopes though, life and fate had different plans.

One August morning when Vivian was 8 and her brother was 11, her brother told her that he would be heading out to the lake with friends. Vivian begged him to let her come along and promised to be good, but he rejected her pleas and told her that he wished to hang out with _his_ friends alone. Vivian, of course, continued to protest this, but her brother was unwilling to change his mind and he left her at home. So, Vivian reluctantly helped her mother and father with some chores around the house and then retired to her room. She thought nothing of it when her brother did not return him for dinner, as it was common for him to stay out later with his friends whenever he did not have to return home with Vivian. She did see how nervous her parents were, but that always happened and he always returned home safely. She had assumed her brother was just rebelling or giving in to pressure from his friends, and so she went to sleep without much care for the situation.

The next morning was when the fear and worry began to set in. These came along with the sheriff who arrived at her house early in the morning. Vivian had opened the door and the sheriff kindly told her to get her mother and father. She did as she was told, and her mother told her that she was excused to play in her room. She did not want to go, as she wanted to know what they were speaking about, but she did not wish to upset her parents, so she did as she was told. Still, sitting alone in her room, the fear nagged at her. Her mother never told her to go to her room. Not even when they had guests over. She would always sit with her mother or stand with her mother hugging her close but never had her mother instructed her to leave to her room. So, if everything was really alright… why had her mother done that now?

A scream tore through the house and Vivian began to weep immediately. It had been her mother who had screamed so loudly, and the sound was filled with horror. With deep sadness and disbelief. Vivian left her room and rushed to her mother. Her mother was on the ground rocking back and forth, and Vivian hugged her tightly. Her mother hugged back, but when Vivian looked into her eyes, she saw nothing there. Simply a vacant stare. She knew at that moment that her mother would not truly notice her presence in the room. She was in the halls and catacombs of her mind now.

The funeral took place on a quiet and cold September morning. The air was bitter, and it seemed to nip at Vivian despite the layers that she was wearing. She did not care though. The pain did not matter to her. Vivian felt numb inside. As though her body were only a shell and her mind was far away. Vivian remained in that state for months, and not even the best efforts from her mother or her father could get her out of it.

The sole reason she came out of that state was her mother’s pregnancy. Had it not been for that, she likely would have remained in her previous state for much longer. However, fate had another path in store for her. Her mother and father had thought long and hard about having another child, but they wanted to give Vivian another sibling and they wanted to have another child, so despite reservations, they had in regards to their living situation or income, they decided to go ahead and conceive a child. Once they were sure that Mary was with child, they told Vivian the good news. Vivian was overjoyed, to say the least. She promised that she would be the best older sister in the entire world, and she assured her parents that she would do her best to help out with the baby.

“All you have to do is love them. That would mean the world to us and to your new baby sibling,” her mother said.

“I can do that!” exclaimed Vivian.

And that was exactly what she did. When her mother gave birth to her younger sister, Vivian was waiting outside of the bedroom with her father. The family was lucky enough to know a nurse who could come over and stay to deliver the baby. They were also lucky that the nurse was such a good one, or else Vivian’s mother would likely not have lived long enough to hold her new-born daughter in her arms. But luckily for the family, they did have a good nurse and Mary held onto the crying baby, soothing her and letting her feed.

“What should we name her?” asked Paul when he and Vivian entered the room.

“Oh dear! We never did decide on a name!” exclaimed Mary.

“Angela!” suggested Vivian excitedly. She was hugged close to her mother and the baby, who was now sleeping peacefully in her mother’s arms.

“Angela is a beautiful name for her,” Paul told Vivian with a smile.

“Fitting too. Our little angel,” commented Mary.

“Angela it is then!” Paul said. Vivian kissed the baby on the forehead and then she fell asleep with her mother and her new baby sister.

Vivian helped her mother to raise Angela as best as she could. She helped to make sure that Angela was safe and happy, and she also helped bathe her and clean her. Mostly though, she just hung out with her, trying her best to make sure Angela felt loved and cared for. When Angela was old enough, Vivian would take her out to play in the fields near the house. They would spend hours out there. Playing pretend or playing tag. They would sometimes play with some of the other neighborhood children as well, and they even made a few friends who they would hang out with on a regular basis. Some of Vivian’s friends were hesitant to hang out with Angela, as Angela was only 5 and Vivian was already 13, but they all warmed up to Angela as soon as they met her.

Vivian and Angela were homeschooled, and when Angela turned six, they were allowed less and less time to play outside. Less and less time to see their friends. Their father saw to this, always assuring them that their hard work would pay off in the future.

“If you want to make a name for yourself, you have to work hard. You cannot let anything get in your way,” Paul would tell them. While Angela did not understand the harsh meaning behind this, Vivian was all too well aware. She knew her father had taken to seeing her and Angela as burdens. Ever since her brother passed, he had become crueler and crueler. This became especially true when Angela turned four and Paul had lost his contract with a local shop who had been selling his carvings. She suspected he blamed them for taking up all his time. Time he would have rather spent with his dreams of being a famous woodcarver. As a result of this, Paul began spending less and less time at home. He would arrive home smelling like roses or other flowers. Vivian was not sure why this was, or why her mother always got so upset with him for it. But she did understand that, at the times when her mother would cry and scream at her father, it was best to hide with Angela in her room. She knew it was best to disappear and hide away in the magical worlds of the stories she would tell Angela.

But then came the cold day. That was what Vivian called it. It was not only because of the bitter winter air blowing in from the broken windows of their little house, but it was mostly because of what happened on that day.

Her father had returned home that day, smelling like roses once again. Vivian had picked up that scent on him more and more often during that month, and it seemed her mother had too. Mary stormed out of the kitchen and threw her oven mittens on the ground. She began to scream at him.

“You have been gone all day!” shouted Mary. Paul removed his coat and set it on the table by the door.

“Yes. I have. And I have news for you, Mary dear. I am going to be gone much longer than that starting now!” shouted Paul. Vivian had been helping Angela with some work for their studies when the two heard their parent’s fighting.

“Is Mommy mad at Daddy again?” asked Angela softly. Vivian turned to Angela with a sad smile.

“Yes. She is. So, we are going to go to the magic place,” Vivian told her sister. Angela lit up at this and she followed Vivian to her room. Vivian had built a little fort out of some old sheets and pillows, and the two climbed into there.

“Can you tell me a story with princesses, magic creatures, and candies?!” Angela requested. Vivian giggled and nodded at this.

“Yes. It can be any magical land you want,” Vivian promised.

“I want to be a princess!” squealed Angela.

“Then a princess you shall be, my lady,” Vivian said as she hugged Angela tightly.

“Start the story! Start the story!” cried Angela. And Vivian did.

There was a beautiful young princess named Angela. Everyone in the land loved her. They bought her all sorts of gifts and treasures, and she never wanted for anything. Despite this though, she was never a greedy or cruel princess. She would share her fortune with the people of the kingdom without hesitation.

Princess Angela had an older sister as well. Her sister was not only a princess, but she was the greatest knight in all of the kingdom as well. She was the sworn protector of Princess Angela, and she took her job very seriously. She never let anyone harm the princess. Her name was Princess Vivian, and people knew her from all across the land for her kindness and bravery.

One day, a young villager rushed into the castle with a panicked look on his face. He was panting and took a moment to catch his breath before kneeling to the princesses.

“Your highnesses! There is an emergency of the highest importance!” the villager frantically cried out.

“What seems to be the trouble, good sir?” Princess Angela questioned.

“The Royal Sweet Shop is under attack!” replied the village with worry in his voice.

“Oh no! Not the Royal Sweet Shop!” cried Princess Angela in horror.

“Do not fret, dearest sister! I will go and take back the sweet shop!” Princess Vivian interrupted.

“I will go with you,” said the brave yet humble Princess Angela.

“Very well then, but you must stay close. It will surely be a dangerous journey…”

The two sisters were ripped from their magical world when their mother came into their room. She had very clearly been crying and she hugged Vivian and Angela tightly.

“Mommy? Where is Daddy?” asked Angela.

“Daddy is not going to be coming home again, my little darling. He is going to go and live… somewhere else,” Mary told Angela.

“Is he not going to visit?” Vivian questioned. Mary shook her head at this.

“No. He will not be coming back. But we don’t need him. All we need is the three of us. We can make it all on our own,” Mary answered.

Had the world been kinder and fairer, this would likely have been true. Had the world been a place of love and acceptance, maybe Mary’s words could have held more power to them. But this was not a kind nor fair world. Mary and her daughters lived in a very small town and it was not a place of love nor a place of acceptance. It was a place of heavy judgement and prejudice. One where it was not easy for a mother of two to find a job of any sort. One where, in all truth, it was difficult for any woman to get employed. It was a very unfair world indeed, but the reality that Vivian’s mother faced, nevertheless. She tried every place she could in town, but all said that they were looking for someone who was “more qualified.”

Mary eventually found some work, though it was not the work that she had been hoping for. She never did tell Angela and Vivian how she made money to pay for food and the house, but Vivian pieced some things together for herself. She was 14 now, and though most of the world was a mystery to her, she had picked up a few things from observing the outside world and people’s interactions with each other. She knew enough about the world to spot changes in her mother’s habits. She began to see Mary putting on makeup before work. She would sometimes catch her mother leaving for work in clothing that Vivian knew her mother would never let her wear outside. Sometimes her mother would come home with a strange new man and sometimes she would come home late at night and retire to her room right away. When the men were over, the door to her mother’s room was locked. Vivian could still hear some of the sounds though and thought she did not really know what they were or meant, she knew that she did not like hearing them. She did her best to make sure that Angela did not have to hear the sounds too.

One night, Mary had sat Vivian down and told her that she would be out for the night. She told her that she was going to meet a group of very nice and wealthy men who were going to pay her a lot of money. All she had to do was spend a little time with them and hang out.

“See, they are lonely, and they need… a friend,” Mary lied, and Vivian knew it was a lie. She saw the tired and defeated look on her mother’s face. Saw the tears she was holding back. So, she did not let her mother know she knew Mary was lying. She, instead, put on a big smile.

“That is ok, Mommy. I will look after Angela for you! Be home soon!” Vivian said with a falsely cheery tone. Her mother forced a smile back and she hugged Vivian.

“I will, my darling. I know Angela is still asleep, but when she awakens, tell her that I love her and will be home soon,” Mary told her. She kissed Vivian on the forehead, stood up, waved, and then headed out the door.

“If these are wealthy men, maybe they will give her a bunch of money. Maybe she will never have to work in that business ever again,” Vivian whispered to herself.

“Vivy? Is Mommy out again?” asked Angela, who had just woken up. She was rubbing her eyes tiredly and still hugging a blanket that Vivian had gotten for her years ago.

“Yes, but she is going to be home with a lot of money soon. So much that she won’t ever have to leave again!” Vivian told Angela with a smile.

You must believe me, dear reader, when I tell you that I wish more than anything that I could tell you that this is what happened. That their mother came home, hugged Angela and Vivian, kissed them, and told them everything would be alright. That she was holding bags and bags of money. Enough to take care of all three of them for the rest of their lives. Enough so that she would never have to work again. I long to tell you that, at the bare minimum, she arrived home to see Angela and Vivian waiting for her by the door.

But… alas, as hard as this is, I promised you the truth. I shall not break that promise, even if it breaks my heart to do so.

Vivian and Angela waited by that door for two days. They slept sometimes and took breaks to eat, but other than that, they waited. But their mother never returned home to them. She would never return to them. Never get the chance to say goodbye or tell her darlings that she loved them. She would never get the chance to hold them or give them one last hug. For she was murdered by one of the men that she had been meeting with that night. He had tried to get out of paying her, and when she tried to beg him for the money, he hit her hard in the head. She fell backwards and slipped, falling to the ground and breaking her neck on the corner of the fireplace in his house. The man and his friends then mutilated her body and dumped it in the woods for the animals to dispose of. She would never see justice, and her daughters would never learn how she died. The men who did it would never be held responsible, and all Angela and Vivian would know was that after that day when their mother left to meet the lonely men, they would never see her again.

Vivian had only prayed a few times in her life. Her father had been a very religious man and had tried to get them to join the church, but her mother had never been very religious herself and so, when he left, they stopped going to the church. But on those nights as she waited for her mother to return, she prayed a lot. She prayed hard and often and every single day, she believed that a miracle would happen, and her mother would come home. She prayed for answers or a sigh. Answers that would never come.

After five days of waiting, Angela began to complain more and more about hunger, and though she never spoke of it, Vivian was hungry too. They went to town and bought all the food that they could with the very little amount of money they had.

The food lasted only a month, and the two had no way to make money after that. So, Vivian did what she had been avoiding doing. She began to steal. She would take food from shops or stands that she could and would pick-pocket money when she knew that she would not get caught. Sometimes she would do very well, and she and Angela would be set for awhile. Other times though, they would go without food for days. This happened if stands were shut down due to weather or if there was more security around the shops. Sometimes, during holidays or special events, this would happen, and Vivian did not have the nerve to try and steal when the risk of getting caught was so high. Instead, she would try and find a suitable place for her and Angela to stay, as the bank had taken their house back after they were unable to pay the rent. This left the two to hop from place to place, hiding out storms and the cold.

During the times when the two were without food and spent their day hidden away from the world, Vivian would continue the story of Princess Angela and Princess Vivian. In the story, the two made their way to the royal sweet shop They had just arrived to see a huge winged beast flying around the shop. The beast flew down and demanded that the princesses left. It told them that, if they did not, it would burn down the sweet shop and bring terror to the kingdom.

That was the part of the story they were at when Angela began to complain about feeling ill. She turned to Vivian one night during the story with a look of pain and discomfort on her face.

“Vivy. My tummy hurts,” Angela whimpered.

“I know you are hungry, but we just have to wait a little bit longer until the guards leave town. Then we can go and get more food,” Vivian promised, but Angela shook her head at this.

“No. This hurt is different. I really don’t feel good,” Angela insisted, and she began to form tears in her eyes. Vivian hugged her and held her close.

“You are going to be ok, Angela,” Vivian cooed. Angela moved away from Vivian, moved to a corner of the house they were staying in, and she began to vomit violently. She continued to vomit until all that came up with bile and the dry sound of her coughs and gags. Vivian grabbed a cloth they had found and wiped off Angela’s face. Angela began to sob loudly, and Vivian spent the majority of the night trying to calm her down.

The next morning, Vivian and Angela packed up what little things they had, and they left to find a new place to stay. They ended up finding an abandoned tailor shop where they set up camp.

“Now, you rest up here. I will go and find some food for you,” Vivian instructed.

“Ok. Be back soon please,” whispered Angela. Vivian nodded and she headed out to the town.

She had been in the middle of stealing a tomato when a young lady walked up to her. Vivian was not sure if the woman knew she was stealing, so she decided to play innocent. She examined the tomato as if she were considering buying it or not.

“Hello sweetheart. Are you helping your mother with her shopping?” asked the lady. Vivian nodded.

“Yes. She told me to go and get some things for dinner,” lied Vivian.

“Well, you should stay away from those tomatoes, dear. There is something in them that is making folks awfully sick. You should tell your mother to avoid those right now,” the lady whispered to her. Vivian froze at this and paled.

“Sick. How sick?” asked Vivian. The woman hesitated, but she answered finally.

“I… I don’t want to scare you or anything but… plenty of folks around here… well… have gone to Heaven due to whatever is making those tomatoes so bad,” the lady replied. Vivian paled at this and she dropped the tomato to the ground.

She took off in a dash, running faster than she ever had in her life. Running as fast as she could to get back to Angela. Had they stolen tomatoes recently? Had Angela eaten any? Vivian knew that she had not. She hated them and would have taken something else for herself. But Angela… she loved tomatoes. Had ever since she was young. So, if they had gotten a chance to take some, Vivian knew that she would have let Angela have all the tomatoes they had gotten.

When she arrived back to the tailor shop, she raced to where Angela was. Angela was throwing up again and had clearly been sick more than a few times. She looked over at Vivian and forced a weak smile.

“Vivy. You are back,” called Angela weakly.

“Yes. I am back. It is going to be ok now,” Vivian said as she fought back tears. “Did you eat any tomatoes lately, Angela? I need you to remember because it is very important,” Vivian added, not wasting any time getting to the question. She had to know.

“Tomatoes! I love those!” Angela exclaimed as she perked up.

“I know, Angela, but did you eat any lately?” questioned Vivian again.

“Yeah! A big juicy one! I took it from a stall last week. It was yummy,” replied Angela, and those words caused Vivian’s heart to shatter like glass. She slowly walked up and picked Angela up, hugging her close.

“I love you so much,” she cried. Angela hugged her back hesitantly.

“I love you too, but why are you crying?” Angela replied. Vivian simply did not have the heart to tell her the truth.

“I missed you,” Vivian told Angela, and that in itself was one version of the truth. A truth, at least. Just not _the_ truth.

As the week went on, Angela grew sicker and sicker. She was dehydrated and when Vivian tried to get her to eat or drink, she would only throw up again. Nothing stayed in her system. Her fragile little form was pale and looked like no more and bones, clothes, and flesh that did not look right for a child her age. She had bags under her eyes too. Her voice was soft, and she could speak only in a whisper. Even that took a tremendous amount of energy and effort though. Still, as painful as it was, she turned to Vivian one night with a small smile.

“Finish the story,” whispered Angela. Vivian took a deep breath and she began the end of the tale.

Princess Vivian and Princess Angela both stood their grounds. They were not going to be swayed. Not when the Royal Sweet Shop was at risk. But just as Princess Vivian was about to attack the winged creature, Princess Angela stopped her.

“Wait! Look!” cried the princess. She was pointing behind the winged creature and Princess Vivian gasped when she saw the sight.

Behind the winged creature was an adorable little baby creature. It was feasting on some of the candies that had been in storage and was still unaware of the princesses. It munched happily on the candies, purring and cooing away.

“You are just looking out for your baby. Just trying to do your best for them,” Princess Vivian said in a hushed voice.

“Yes. This is my daughter, Eva. I only want the best for her. That is all. She needed to eat, and this was the closest place. Please. You may banish me from the kingdom, but let my daughter stay. She did nothing wrong. She was only born into a life that was filled with hardships and cruelty,” pleaded the creature.

“No. No one shall be banished. Our kingdom has more than enough food to share. We shall share with you and your baby!” exclaimed Princess Angela. The mother creature’s eyes lit up at this.

“You… do you mean that?” she asked. Princess Angela nodded.

“Yes. In my kingdom, no one ever gets left out, and no one is without food,” Princess Angela replied. The mother creature began to cry, and she kissed her daughter on the forehead. Eva looked up with a curious expression, and then went back to eating.

“Thank you! Thank you! You are the most amazing, sweet, and kind princess in all the lands!” the mother creature said. Princess Angela walked up to her and gave her a big hug.

“You are welcome, and my most humble thanks to you,” Princess Angela replied.

The two princesses returned home and told the land all was well. They told everyone that they would be having two new guests who would be new members of the kingdom. She told them how the new guests would live in the Royal Sweet Shop, but that those who worked there need not fear, for the guests were kind and gentle.

The creatures helped the town to make the candies and sweets. The two princesses visited often, and they became great friends with Eva. The townsfolk came to respect and welcome the creatures and it all ended happily ever after

“Big sister. I am sleepy,” yawned Angela. Vivian chocked back a sob and forced a wide smile onto her face.

“Oh. Ok. You get some rest. I will keep watch,” Vivian told her.

“I am to dream of being a princess with lots of candies, sweets, and strange magical friends!” said Angela sleepily. She yawned again and curled into a ball.

“You do that. I will be right back here when you wake up, ok? I love you so much,” Vivian promised. She gave Angela a hug and a kiss, and then went to keep watch. She stayed up all night and all through the next day. She was keeping watch and waiting for Angela to wake up.

That time never came.

Vivian buried the body of her little sister two days after Angela’s death. She made a little hole in a spot overlooking the town, and she laid her to rest. She buried Angela with the blanket she had given her all those years ago and a model toy of the creature for the story that she had made out of sticks. She kissed Angela on the forehead and covered the grave with dirt. When the job was done, she put some flowers on the grave and smiled softly.

“I love you, little sister. I will always love you. So, stay strong, wherever you are now. You go be a princess and a hero. I will wait for the day that I see you again,” Vivian whispered. She fell to the ground then and proceeded to break down in tears.

The next few months were a blur to Vivian. But she knew one thing clearly. She was starving. There was less and less food nowadays, and fewer supplies too. She got sick easily due to her malnourishment and she found it harder and harder to stay awake. She began to lose energy quickly and this made it harder for her to focus on her own safety. So, during a stormy winter day, she walked along a pathway in the park to try and clear her head. To try to focus…

That was when the chariot hit her.

Vivian had not realized it when she had left the park. Her mind had been far too focused on her pain in her stomach and the pain in her heart. She had simply been walking, going through the motions and steps. She had not processed that she had left the park and that she was crossing the street. So lost in her own mind was young Vivian, so she could not hear it when the man to her left yelled at her to get off the road. Or when the lady with her baby cried to look out. She did not even hear the frantic pleas of the chariot driver to move out of the way. No. Vivian only recognized and processed her situation when the chariot collided with her.

The pain she felt was unbearable as the chariot crushed her legs like eggshells. As she hit the floor and felt bones breaking inside of her like twigs. She tried to cry out, but all that came out was blood and saliva. The pain exploded all over her, and all she could do was lie there in silent agony.

People tried to get her help, but the damage was done. There was nothing that could be done, and Vivian knew it. She merely grimaced through the pain and then saw a sight which brought tears to her eyes.

Angela was there, reaching down to her from Heaven. Smiling and holding out her little hand. Inviting Vivian to join her in Heaven. Vivian managed a smile through her pain and with her last bits of strength, she reached up and grabbed Angela’s hand…

Then the world went black.

“Another newbie, huh? Poor thing. Looks awfully weak,”

“Malnourishment, you think?”

“Yeah. Most like… wait. No. She’s got Xs all over her. Had to be a pretty gruesome end to get that,”

Vivian awoke with a start and a loud scream. She saw two strange creatures and looked around to find herself in the middle of some alleyway. She sat up immediately and calmed herself down. She remembered Angela reaching down to her from Heaven and knew that these must have been the angels sent to greet her into Heaven.

“Hello,” she said with a smile. Both the creatures blinked in surprise when she screamed, but they seemed to calm down when she did so. The one with bright blue wings to her left spoke first.

“Hey there. What is your name?” asked the blue-winged creature.

“I’m Vivian,” she replied.

“Hey, Vivian. I am Chiffon. The man over there is Dimity,” Chiffon introduced. Vivian could not help but laugh a little at this.

“Those are awfully silly names for angels to have,” she giggled, but she stopped laughing when she saw the looks on their faces.

“Honey… where do you think you are right now?” asked Dimity.

“Heaven, obviously. You are angels, so this must be Heaven,” she told him matter-of-factly.

“And what year is it?” asked Chiffon.

“That is an easy question. It is 1927. Why?” asked Vivian. She was not sure why the angels would want to know the year, but she supposed it did not matter much. If she could help them out, she would. They were probably just gathering information.

“Darling… it is not 1927. It is 1935. You have… you poor thing. You’ve been in limbo for eight years,” Chiffon told her in a quiet voice.

“That is ok. Heaven is worth the wait anyway! I am sure of that!” she exclaimed. Chiffon was about to speak when Dimity cut him off.

“Listen honey. We are not angels and this ain’t Heaven! Get that through your head!” growled Dimity. Vivian lost her smile at this and whimpered softly.

“W… what?” she whispered in shock.

“Dimity! Be gentle! She is new here!” scolded Chiffon. He offered Vivian a sad and apologetic smile. “I am so sorry about him, darling. He gets moody sometimes. But… he is not wrong. We are not angels. I think you are a little confused, which makes sense considering all you went through. You… you are in Hell, and you are also a demon. I am so sorry. You seem like a sweet young lady who deserved better than this,” Chiffon told her.

“Where is my little sister? Where is Angela?!” Vivian yelled worriedly.

“Angela?” questioned Dimity and Chiffon at the same time.

“She is my little sister,” repeated Vivian. She was looking around frantically and felt as though she were going to pass out again from all the shock and panic that was coursing through her.

“How old is she?” asked Dimity.

“She is eight years younger than I am. It has been eight years since I… since I died, so… she would be around fourteen. I think,” Vivian replied. Dimity and Chiffon shared a look that Vivian did not like very much.

“We haven’t seen any teens that I can remember, but Hell is very dangerous. I… I just don’t know if she could survive out there on her own,” Dimity commented. Chiffon elbowed him hard in the side and turned back to Vivian.

“But I am sure she is fine. She probably found some demons that took her in and helped her,” added Chiffon in a cheery tone that Vivian knew to be fake. 

“But this is Hell. We are already dead,” Vivian countered. Chiffon and Dimity fell silent and looked down. Both were unsure what to say in response to this, but it was Chiffon who broke the silence.

“Come on. We will get you all cleaned up and taken care of. Then we can explain everything to you. But it is better if we go somewhere safer than out in the open,” Chiffon replied.

Vivian hesitated. She did not know if she could trust the two of them, and was hesitant about going back to where they lived. She did not know them or know if they meant her harm. But… she did not really have many other options. If Hell had more dangers than she knew about, it was a bad idea for her to split off on her own. Plus, there was safety in numbers likely, so her best bet was to stick with Dimity and Chiffon. So, she nodded and followed the two. She made sure to keep her guard up just in case they tried to hurt her or tried anything suspicious.

She followed Dimity and Chiffon to a small apartment building complex not far from where she had appeared in Hell. It was decent enough. The buildings looked to be in good condition and were painted with a deep shade of purple that Vivian found to be very visually appealing. They entered one of the buildings and went up to the fifth floor, leading her down the hall to the last apartment on the floor. Chiffon held the door for her and Dimity, and she thanked him softly.

The apartment itself was quiet but in a homely sort of way. It was a quaint little place with sea-green curtains, coral blue wallpaper, and maroon furniture that was all matching, but clearly had been either painted over or the maroon fabric had been sewn on. The kitchen was the only place where the furniture was a different color. In there, everything was a metallic gold that contrasted the blue of the wallpaper surrounding it. Vivian was shocked that the mix of colors worked so well together, but it all seemed to fit in a way she could not describe even if she tried to.

“You can sit on the couch if you want. Dimity will go and make us some tea,” Chiffon offered. Vivian nodded and sat down on the couch. It had a soft and velvety texture to it. Vivian had never had a couch like this one before, and she almost immediately fell in love with it.

“Do you like tea?” Dimity asked. “Sorry. Chiffon should have asked that before offering,” Dimity called to her from the kitchen.

“I think so. Tea sounds nice,” replied Vivian, unsure whether she had had tea before or not. Her memories and thoughts seemed to be getting more and more jumbled up the more she tried to think about them.

“Good enough for me. I will put the kettle on and be right back,” Dimity replied as he headed into the small kitchen.

“Ok… well… I suppose it would be best just to start explaining while we wait for the tea. There is a lot of information I should tell you, after all. Where to start? Um… I suppose I should explain the Extermination first and foremost. See… there is this event that happens every year when angels come down from Heaven and they enter Hell,” Chiffon began.

“Oh! Do they come to take people to Heaven?!” Vivian asked excitedly, ignoring the name of the event in favor of the fairy tale her mind was concocting. Chiffon quickly dismayed this idea, however, when he continued.

“No. I… I am sorry, but they are not coming to Hell to help people. See… Hell has a major issue with overpopulation so in order to make the population less… angels come here and… well… exterminate some of the demons,” Chiffon told her.

“They kill as many demons as they can during the Extermination. They go after anyone that is not in a safe enough place to keep them out, or anyone who is unlucky enough to be stuck in the street during the Extermination,” added Dimity as he returned to the living room with three cups and a pot full of tea. He poured the tea into the cups but warned Vivian to be careful as the tea was very hot. She nodded and waited for the tea to cool down.

“But I don’t understand. They are angels. They are supposed to help us and protect us,” Vivian protested.

“No. They protect each other and sometimes the humans. But not us. They only view us as low-life demons meant to be slaughtered every year, and nothing more. They don’t care about us, and they never will,” Dimity muttered. Chiffon gave him a warning glare and he sighed, rolling his eyes and slowly sipping his tea.

“So… angels can kill a demon then?” Vivian asked.

“Yes… sort of. They don’t really die. They more… cease to exist,” answered Chiffon. “But if you have a safe place to stay, you will be just fine,” he added quickly, as to try and make the situation seem less horrifying for his new guest.

“Are angels the only ones that can kill demons?” Vivian questioned. Chiffon shook his head at this.

“No. Demons all have certain powers and abilities. Most demons use these for lower-level crimes or to scrape by. Most don’t even train and further develop their powers. But there are some that do. There are stronger demons or the more powerful ones that are able to kill other demons with little difficulty. Which says a lot, considering it is hard to kill a demon and keep them down for good. Unless you manage to catch them off guard. Then you might have a good shot, but you only get lucky so many times,” Chiffon explained.

“Or if you have prior experience with fighting or killing. Then you have a bit of an advantage against lower or regular level demons,” Dimity added. Chiffon nodded at this.

“Most overlords and royals can kill demons, but many of them prefer just to use charms or fear to get their way. Killing is more of a sport for them than a means to get things by. Except for territory, but that is another matter entirely,” Chiffon explained.

“Royals? Overlords? Territory?” Vivian frantically spoke. She was beyond confused at this point and felt as though her head was spinning.

“Yes. Hell has certain overlords who are in charge of certain things. Sometimes this means turf or territory. Sometimes this means certain sectors of entertainment or businesses. Sometimes it just means they are very powerful and not to be messed with. For example, there is Alastor, the Radio Demon, who is in charge of radio and talk shows. There is Rosie, in charge of a large area of turf as well as her own company. There is Manny, who is in charge of most of the adult film industry and the most famous adult film studio in Hell. All three are very powerful and own their own domains in Hell. There are also royals though, and they are much more powerful than overlords. They also own more territory. Some royals are the Von Eldritch family and Prince Stolas. The difference between overlords and royals is mostly that overlords can be made, while royals are born into their family titles. You can steal an overlord’s title and what they own, but you can’t really do the same with royals. And then… then there are the most powerful demons in all of Hell. Well, they are technically not even demons. Fallen angels would be a more accurate term for them. King Lucifer and Queen Lilith. They own all of Hell technically speaking and run everything. Nothing happens without their say so. You must never anger them. They have no mercy and are to be feared,” Chiffon told her. Vivian’s head began to feel even lighter than before and she had to hold onto the couch to steady herself.

Angels? Demons? Lilith? Lucifer? Heaven? Hell? It was all real! Not only that, but she was now a part of it all. She was a demon, and due to this, she was supposed to trust demons and fear angels. Angels that were supposed to once love and protect her, but now wanted to hunt, hurt, and kill her. They would likely reveal in her pain and despair too. For she was nothing more than prey to them. Nothing more than the villain.

Yes… she was a demon…

She was a demon! She was no longer bound by mortal rules! It occurred to Vivian at that moment that she no longer had to abide by the rules that humans lived by. The rules she had lived by all her life. She did not have to play the perfect daughter, the perfect person, or the perfect human. She could be whatever and whoever she wanted to be. She could have whatever it was she wanted, as long as she kept herself in check and made sure to stay on the good side of those who held more power than she did. But she could finally take some power for herself. Sure, maybe she could not be royalty or rule Hell… but she could become an overlord. And from the sounds of it… life as an overlord seemed pretty good. You didn’t want for anything. There was no worrying about food or water. No worries about housing or safety, because you owned your own territory and people feared you. Well, the majority, but that would be good enough for her. If being bad was what it took to get somewhere in Hell, then she would take a shot and try it! After all, what good had being good ever done for her? She’d tried her best to be good when she was human, and she was in Hell and without her family.

Speaking of family, Vivian began to imagine the life she could provide for Angela when she found her. If she were an overlord, Angela would want for nothing. She would long for nothing. Vivian could be the hero from the stories she had always told Angela when they were human. She could make it so they lived like princesses, even if they were not actually princesses. There would be no more dreaming of fairy tale lives, for they could live out those fantasies as reality. She was going to build a bright future for herself and for Angela. No point dwelling on their past, for that would get her nowhere. No. She was going to make a name for herself, and thus make a life for the two of them. She was going to go all in, and if she got herself killed doing it… then so be it. After all, what did she really have to lose?

“I am going to be an overlord,” she announced aloud, causing Chiffon to choke on his tea and Dimity to stare at her with shock on his face.

“Ambitious young lady, aren’t we?” Dimity commented. He then thought about her statement for a moment and then chuckled. “Well, I can respect that. If you want to be an overlord, I say go for it. About time Hell got some new higher-ups anyways,” chuckled Dimity. Vivian pouted at this.

“I am not joking around,” she hissed. Dimity suddenly stopped laughing and looked her dead in the eyes.

“Neither am I,” he replied.

“Wait, really?!” asked both Vivian and Chiffon at the same time.

“Yeah. Hell’s had the same faces in charge for years. I’d like to see someone fresh in power. Be nice,” Dimity replied.

“Dim! That is way too dangerous!” protested Chiffon, who had set his tea down on the table to make sure he did not spill it.

“It is her life,” Dimity said with a shrug.

“We can’t let her do that!” cried Chiffon. “What if she gets hurt or killed?!” he added.

“Chiffon! She is a grown woman! She can make her own choices!” growled Dimity, who was losing his patience fast.

“It is crazy!” Chiffon shot back.

“You can’t coddle her, Chiffon! She is not Cotton!” screamed Dimity. The room fell silent as Chiffon reeled back as though Dimity had slapped him in the face. Dimity had a horrified look on his own face, and he looked away from Vivian and Chiffon. “I… I was out of line. I am sorry,” Dimity said, sitting down beside Chiffon and holding him close.

“Who is Cotton?” Vivian asked quietly, very confused as to what had just happened. Dimity said nothing, continuing to comfort Chiffon while trying very hard to keep the tears in his eyes from falling. Chiffon looked up at Vivian was a pained expression.

“Cotton… she was our daughter. She died with us and we all arrived together in Hell. One day… she went to play at a park near the apartment complex. It was so close to home, so we thought it would be ok. She was supposed to meet a few friends too, and some of the friend’s parents would be there. It was such a short walk. It should have been fine…” began Chiffon, but he broke down before he was able to finish speaking. Dimity took a deep breath and continued for him.

“The Extermination’s date was moved that year. Some freak change of plans from the angels or whatever. No one was prepared, and when the sirens began to blast… we knew there was nothing we could do. We tried to get outside to save them, but the landlord had locked the doors and would not let us out. Said it would put everyone in the building at risk if he were to open the doors. Neither of us could fly, so jumping out the window was out of the question. There was no way to make it there on time. We could only sit at home and pray she would make it home… but she never did. We found her body in the park the next day. She and all her friends were killed, the bodies of the parents over them in a futile attempt to shield the kids from the attacks of the angels. Cotton was… she… she had just turned twelve a week before the Extermination,” Dimity informed her. Vivian was not sure what to say, so she simply hugged Chiffon and Dimity.

“I am so sorry,” was all she could think to say. She knew it could never reverse the hurt they were feeling, but it was all she could bring herself to say.

“I know you are not her, but you remind me so much of Cotton. That bright sparkle in your eyes. That smile. It reminds me of her so much,” Chiffon admitted. An idea came to Vivian and she smiled softly at him.

“Maybe… maybe I could stay with you both,” she suggested.

“What?!” both Dimity and Chiffon exclaimed.

“Well… I don’t have anyone here with me and it is too risky to go out to try and find Angela right now… so… maybe I could live with you both. I know that I could never fill the hole in your hearts that Cotton left… but maybe it might be a nice change to have someone new around the house. I promise I will be good and won’t cause any trouble,” Vivian replied.

“I think that sounds like a swell idea,” Dimity said. Chiffon smiled and kissed Dimity. He then turned to Vivian with a soft smile on his face.

“I think we should give you a name that fits with the family theme,” suggested Chiffon.

“Oh! I couldn’t possibly do that!” Vivian gasped. She did not want to intrude on something so personal. But Chiffon and Dimity both smiled encouragingly at her.

“We would love it if you would. If not, that is totally fine… it is just… well… kind of a traditional thing for new demons to pick a new name out, and we just thought a theme might be a nice way to make us feel more… connected. And if you are going to be staying with us, you might as well join the theme too. If you want to, of course,” Chiffon insisted.

“What is the theme?” asked Vivian.

“Well, we had always wanted to run a clothing company, so we picked fabrics as our theme,” Dimity answered.

“I don’t really know any fabrics…” Vivian whispered. She began to nervously play with the couch using her nails, and then a thought came to her. “What fabric is on the couch?” she asked.

“Velvet… oh! Why, that would be a lovely name for you!” exclaimed Chiffon. Vivian perked up at this and clapped her hands.

“Yeah! I like that!” she replied with a giggle. Dimity and Chiffon broke their hug, and each held out a hand to her, which she took with a smile on her face.

“Velvet. Welcome to the family,” Chiffon greeted. She giggled and hugged them once again.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to thank us. And if you really want to be an overlord, we will support you every step of the way,” Chiffon assured her. Dimity nodded in agreement.

Chiffon and Dimity showed her to where Cotton’s old room was and told her that she could make herself at home. Vivian thanked them again and said goodnight to both as they headed off to their room. She looked up at the ceiling of the room and noticed little light-up stars. She smiled as she traced patterns in them. With a yawn, she turned to her side and hugged the soft pillow beside her. She snuggled into the warmest blankets she had ever felt in her life and as she drifted off to sleep, a thought came into her head that she hoped would reach her little sister wherever she was in Hell.

“Just wait. I am going to find you, and when I do, I am going to give you the best life. Just hold on, ok? Your big sister is here, and I won’t let anything bad happen to you,”


	5. Thank you message and Vote

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little message and a small vote about future chapters

Dear Readers, 

Thank you so much to everyone who has interacted with this story! I am so shocked by the level of interest in this story, and I am truly so happy that so many people continue to enjoy it! I am honestly overwhelmed by the amount of support I have gotten for this story, so, thank you all again.

As you know, the first chapter for each of the character's backstories have been posted. But here is where there is a bit of a crossroad:

Valentino's backstory happens after Vox and Velvet are already overlords. Due to this, I will be writing and posting the rest of his backstory chapters _after_ Vox and Velvet's chapters.

So, dear readers, I have a question for you:

Who's backstory would you like to see covered first?

**Vox**

Or

**Velvet**

Please vote in the comments! I look forward to seeing the votes!

Sincerely,

The Author


	6. Do It For Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a shocking kiss from An, Vox and An discuss their potential relationship, as well as his future as a boxer. An sets him up with a kind and welcoming training coach named Gold, who helps Vox to discover some truths about himself while they train. 
> 
> A nightmare reveals some horrifying information about Vox's past life as well. Will he confide in An about this, or will he bury it down as he has done for so long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay with this chapter but I really hope that you enjoy it! 
> 
> Trigger warnings: 
> 
> 1\. Mention/Reference to past trauma (sexual violence/forced actions)  
> 2\. Mention of character death (minor character)  
> 3\. Mention of blood  
> 4\. Boxing/Fighting  
> 5\. Verbal abuse from an employer  
> 6\. Cannibalism 
> 
> If there are any other triggers within the chapter that you find that are not on the list, please let me know and I will update the trigger warnings.

Vox stepped back with a stunned expression on his face.

Had... Had An just kissed him? Had that really just happened? He supposed it must have, for he was there, standing in front of her in her house. She looked even more shocked than he did, which Fox would have found funny if not for the surprise and confusion he was feeling right now.

“Oh dear. I... I am so sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I mean, I did, but I just...” An stammered out. Her face was red and the little light on her head was blinking and changing colors rapidly. Vox can see the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Vox moved towards her and she stepped back with a whimper.

“An. Hey. It is OK,” he told her in a soft voice.

“No! It is not! I messed up! Oh! I always mess up!” she cried as she frantically shook her head.

“An. Listen to me. You did not mess anything up at all. If anything, I did by reacting like that,” he said. An lifted her head and looked at him through her tears.

“So… you are not mad?” she asked him.

“No! Of course not! An, you are so sweet and kind. Why would I be mad?” he replied.

“B… because. I am too forward. I act based on my emotional side and not my logical side. Gloves always says that I should act like the good you,” she said. Vox raised an eyebrow at this.

“Good me?” he asked her, very much confused. An shook her head at this.

“No. Sorry. What I said doesn’t make much sense. What I mean to say was the good me, I guess. It is the side of me that people want to see. The side that they like. The bad you is the side of yourself that people do not like. The annoying or the bothersome side. The one that is a burden to others and that only causes them pain. That makes them hate you. Gloves says that my emotional side is part of the bad side of myself. He says that it just pisses people off whenever I show them my emotions, and I don’t want to do that,” she admitted. Vox felt his heart break upon hearing this.

“An, you are not a bother, and I love that you are sharing your feelings. I love that you are emotional and that you were bold enough to kiss me. And I am so sorry that Gloves made you bury your emotions, but just know that you never have to bury them with me. I want to get to know all of you. The good and the so-called bad, because in the end, it is you. It is all just you, and that is who I want to get to know,” he swore to her.

“Vox… you must be the kindest mister in all of Hell,” she told him with a little giggle and a blush. She wiped some of her tears away, but they still flowed like waterfalls from her eyes. Vox walked up and gave her a gentle hug.

“And you are the sweetest young woman in all of Hell. I know that for certain,” he whispered. As he held her close to himself.

“So… um… what are we going to do now? Are we… I mean… are we… um… a couple?” An questioned.

“Do you want to be?” Vox asked back. An took a moment to consider this and then looked down.

“Well, we would have to keep this a secret from Gloves. He doesn’t really take well to me dating people who work for him. Conflict of interest, I guess,” she informed him. Vox wondered if Gloves took well to anyone dating his sister, but figured it best not to ask. He didn’t want to upset An any further.

“That is ok. We don’t have to tell him if you do not think that it would be a good idea,” replied Vox. An was about to smile, but then Vox saw a sadness within her eyes. When she did speak finally, it was in a quiet voice.

“I… I should tell you that I am not the best at cooking or anything either,” she whispered to him. Vox did a double-take at this.

“Whoa! An! I… I really don’t care about that. I mean, if you want to cook, that is fine. If you enjoy it and want to learn more about cooking, that is fine too. But if you don’t want to cook or don’t enjoy it, then that is fine too,” he assured her. He hesitated, but then continued speaking. “Did… did Gloves say that you had to do all the cooking and stuff in a relationship?” asked Vox. An bit her lip in shame.

“Y… yes. He… Gloves said that, in a relationship, I should be the one doing all the cooking and stuff. That I should try my best to be a proper girlfriend or wife,” An admitted. Vox gently grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

“Yeah… but… no. Just no. You shouldn’t have to change what you do in your daily life like that just because you found someone you are in love with. If they love you, they will love you for who you are, not what you can do for them. Plus, you said yourself before that Gloves doesn’t tell you what to do. You are the amazing An! No one gets to tell you how to live your life. No one! You don’t need him to tell you how to live your life! It is your life! You should live it however you want, and with whomever, you want to. As long as they treat you right and make you happy,” Vox told her. This seemed to spark something within her, and she stood taller at this.

“Yeah! You are right! I did say that, and I meant it! Why should Gloves have any business in my life? No! He doesn’t have any right to have a say in my love life! It is my love life! I am my own woman and I can live my life however I want to!” she exclaimed.

“Exactly!” Vox shouted. An giggled a little and then smiled softly.

“Hey Vox…” she began.

“Yes?” he asked her.

“I know that we’ve only known each other for such a short amount of time and all, but if this is love, then I am really glad that it is you that I fell in love with,” she told him with a blush. Vox smiled back at her and held back tears.

“I am so glad that you will be the first partner that I will ever have in Hell, and I hope that you will be the one that I get to spend my eternity with,” he whispered. They remained like that for a while before An gasped and stepped backward.

“Oh my goodness! I have to get your interview set up! I nearly forgot about that!” she cried out, rushing to the little pink phone in the kitchen. Vox took a seat on the couch and smiled to himself.

“First day in Hell, and not only did I manage to find the sweetest woman in all of existence, but she’s in love with me too. Dear goodness. Hell is… not what I was expecting. No. Not at all,” Vox mumbled to himself. He then chuckled as he thought about how wonderful and yet odd the whole situation was, and he patiently waited for An to return.

When An did come back into the room, she had a bright smile upon her face. The light hanging from her forehead was blinking purple, which Vox took to be the color it turned whenever An was excited about something. He made a mental note to pay attention to the color of that light to get a better sense of her mood.

“So, I got in touch with the training coach. He said that he’d love to coach you, and to teach you!” An exclaimed. “He added that he would coach you for free too!” she added excitedly. Vox jumped up from his chair at this.

“Really?! Are you serious?!” Vox gasped. An nodded excitedly.

“Yes! He said he was always open to helping someone so close to my family. He might own a rival club, but he and I are actually close friends. Anyhow, he promised to train you to be the best fighter in Hell, and said that was worth more than any fees and charges,” An told him. Vox rushed up and hugged her. She giggled sweetly and hugged him back.

“This is amazing! When do I start?” he asked her.

“Tomorrow morning. Early on. Five a.m., to be exact. I booked it early so that it would not interfere with your work schedule. I hope that it wasn’t too early though,” she replied. Vox lifted her chin and looked into those brilliant eyes of hers.

“No. It is perfect,” he assured her, and then he pulled her into a kiss. The two stayed like that for a while before retiring to their rooms for the night. Vox set an alarm on the heart-shaped clock in his room and he fell asleep shortly after.

_“Come now, Varien. You know how dangerous these photos and documents could make life for you. Why not just cut your loss and accept my deal?” whispered his rival as he softly traced his hands along Varien’s hips._

_“No. Not a damn chance!” Varien growled. His rival had chuckled at this._

_“Oh really? Are you sure you want to sass me right now, Varien?” taunted his rival._

_“Of course. I have nothing to hide from you. I never did anything illegal,” lied Varien. His rival sighed at this._

_“Varien. Even if that was true, do you really think that is the only thing I have on you? Your… criminal history?” pouted his rival. Varien shivered when his rival’s hands began to trail up to his chest and trace lazy circles on his sides after that._

_“And what else would you have on me? There could be no affair, seeing as I am not married, so I doubt you could have anything personal on me,” Varien said with a cocky grin upon his face. The grin faded, however, when his rival began to laugh cruelly._

_“Oh, but I do. See, I know you’ve had some… intimate relations. Intimate relations of which I have numerous photos, and copies of said photos in case anything should happen to the originals,” countered his rival._

_“Yes. I have made love. What of it? I am allowed to have, as you say, intimate relations. Nothing says I cannot. As for the images, release them. I am sure that some of my fans would love to see me in some more… exposing images. Might boost morale for the show,” replied Varien in a casual and unphased tone. He thought that this would give him the upper hand. That he could play it as though he did not care about the images and that his rival would simply back off. And in truth, he really did not care. So what if some images of him and a few women got leaked? He wasn’t married, so there really would be no cheating scandal. Anyone would just see him as a bachelor who just wanted to have some intimacy in his life. What was the harm in that? Nothing, so far as he could tell. Nothing at all…_

_“He has quite the impressive figure, that Andre. I rather like that tattoo he has on his back. And that jawline! Ah! Makes me tingle just thinking about it! I am sure that those images would certainly draw a lot of attention to your more personal life, don’t you agree?” his rival purred into his ear. Varien froze._

_No. This was a bluff. It had to be. There was no way that his rival could have known. No way that he could have any images or proof of that. But… if he didn’t… how could he have known about the name of the man that Varien had been seeing? How could he have known the detail about the tattoo? How could he have had any of that information… if he was just bluffing? Hell, even if he wasn’t, how was any of this possible?! Varien had taken every precaution to make sure their meetings were private. To make sure that no one else knew about them. He had been so careful. Oh so careful while planning every single meeting. Every get together and every passionate encounter was carefully planned and well thought out in advance. He made sure they met at hotels and were never seen together outside of those moments. So… how?_

_“I don’t…” Varien began, but he gave a little yelp when his rival pulled his hair and forced him to look into his green, dead eyes._

_“Let’s stop the games, ok? You and I both know what power I hold over you. You might not care about the information that I have on your criminal life but… this surely is something that you don’t want getting out. You can excuse away all that criminal stuff, and I will admit that I don’t have much there anyhow but this… well… this could break you in terms of your career in the film industry,” threatened his rival. Varien looked down._

_“Please. I just have a little money. I am only just starting,” Varien whispered. His rival chuckled at this._

_“I don’t want your money. I just needed to make sure that you knew your place and the stakes before we did this,” his rival told him. He then pushed Varien to the ground and towered over him._

_“D… do what?” Varien was going to ask, but the words died when his rival began to undo his belt. Varien looked at him in horror, and then he looked down in defeat. His rival smirked at the loss of hope in Varien’s eyes._

_“Now, be good and don’t make this harder on yourself than it has to be,” warned his rival. Varien fought tears and the urge to vomit as he reached forwards and…_

“Vox! Vox?! Vox?!”

Vox shot up in bed with a loud scream. His breathing was uneven, and his eyes were wide. He looked around the room and calmed down when he saw An there, looking at him with worry and fear. He sighed and fell back into the bed.

“I am alright,” Vox half-lied to her.

“No! No, you are not! You… you were crying out in your sleep! You started screaming and…” An began to cry out, but Vox took a gentle hold of her hand and gave her a little smile.

“An… thank you for your concern but this… this is just… it is not something I am ready to share yet. Not just yet. I am sorry,” Vox explained to her in a soft voice. An hugged him and then sighed.

“Well, that doesn’t mean that I am not still going to worry about you. But you just go on and take your time. I will be here for you whenever you are ready. No matter how long or how short a time that is, I will be here,” she promised him.

“Thank you,” he replied. It was then a sweet smell filled his nose (or rather sensors) and he smiled as he wiped tears from his face. “Ah, something smells really good,” he commented.

“Oh! Yeah! I made us some breakfast. Maple bacon and some waffles. I got some fruit too. I didn’t know if you liked coffee or tea, so I just boiled some water and put the drink stuff there for you,” she told him.

“Wow! Thank you! You are…” he began, but then he was cut off when his alarm went off. The two froze as “Fly Me To The Moon” began blasting at full volume. Vox blushed as he realized he had not adjusted the volume. An shut the alarm off and they both stare at each other before bursting into laughter. It felt good for Vox to just be able to laugh about something silly. Especially after the nightmare he had had. Part of him knew that one day, he’d want to tell An about his past, but for now, he would take the sweet bliss of the laughter.

After their little giggle fit over the alarm, the two headed to the kitchen and got what food they were going to eat. An made herself a cup of orange pekoe tea and Vox made himself some coffee. The two sat down and An explained to him where he was to go to find the training coach. It wasn’t far from the apartment, so Vox told An that he could walk. An offered to pay for a cab, but he insisted he would be alright with walking. She made him promise to be careful and he did. He kissed her on the cheek and wished her a good day before heading out.

The walk was short, but Vox now understood why An had been so worried. He saw street fights, muggings, and even some murders. Cannibalism was not non-existent either. He saw a few demons chase down and maul some other demons, snacking away at them like it was nothing. Like they were nothing. And, Vox supposed, it was nothing. This was Hell, after all. He knew he would have to get used to seeing things like that but still… it was harder to stomach than he had thought it would be. Especially how open everyone around him seemed to be to the violence. The human part of him found it very unsettling, so he rushed to the training club as fast as he could.

The club was huge. It was so much larger than the Fire Pit and the whole place was literally made out of gold. Vox stared at it in awe and amazement. It was called the “Knock Out” and there were two, huge golden fists on the outside of the building. He entered the building and gasped. If he’d thought the trophies at the Fire Pit were impressive, he was sorely mistaken, for they were nothing compared to this. Trophies and medals covered the walls to the point that Vox could not see any of the walls. They were all first-place prizes. There were also a few images of star boxers and fighters too. Proudly hung among the medals and trophies.

 _“Be a Hell of a thing if I ended up there,”_ Vox thought to himself. He then heard a small chuckle from behind him.

“Just drinking in the view?” a voice asked. Vox turned around with a blush on his face.

“I… I am sorry. I’m Vox. I believe An called about me,” Vox replied. The owner of the voice, a jaguar demon, held out his hand and Vox took it in a firm handshake.

“Nice to meet you, Vox. I am Gold,” introduced the jaguar demon.

“I apologize for just letting myself in and standing there like that but… it is just… this place…” Vox began but he found that words failed him within that moment. Gold laughed a little at this.

“It really is something, isn’t it? Worked it up from the ground myself. Perks of Hell… you get a long time to make your dream business a reality,” Gold told him.

“So, this place was your dream? When you were human, I mean,” Vox questioned. Gold nodded at this with a smile on his face.

“Yes sir. Never got to create it when I was human. Too busy trying to earn a decent living to go after what I really wanted. But when I got sent down here… figured it was my chance to try my hand at running a boxing and training club. I set out to try and live my dream and saw no reason not to. I might be stuck here, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around and sulk. I decided I was going to live my best afterlife, and that was what I did,” Gold told Vox.

“That is really impressive, and a very positive outlook on things,” Vox complimented. Gold smiled a little more at this.

“Most people say it is foolish. But I get the feeling you are not like most people down here, are you? No. I can see you doing great things in the future, Vox,” Gold said. He then cleared his throat and continued speaking. “Now, what kind of training is it you are looking for? Boxing? Martial arts? Offense? Defense? Anything in particular?” asked Gold. Vox shrugged.

“Well… um… I am not sure,” answered Vox honestly.

“Um… well… why do you want to fight?” Gold questioned.

“Well…I want to make some money,” Vox replied. Gold gave him a sympathetic smile.

“What I mean is, what reasons do you have to fight? Is there a goal you wish to achieve? Something you wish to push yourself with? Is it to stay alive so you can do something in particular? Is it so you can protect yourself and maybe… maybe protect someone else too?” Gold pressed on.

Vox took a moment to think on this, and as he did, he realized that Gold was right. He didn’t just want to make some extra money. He wanted to be able to defend himself. To stay alive and have his second chance. He wanted to be able to make something out of his life in Hell and wanted the chance o do that. He had dreams. Ambitions. Goals. And now… now he also had someone else that he wanted to fight for. Someone he wanted to protect and be with for his eternity.

“I want to be great, and I want people to know who I am. I want them to cheer my name and root for me. I want to make people proud, and I want the chance to do so. I want to be able to survive and then thrive. I…” Vox began, before taking a moment to pause and allow a blush to cover his face. He sat down on a throne-like chair and sighed softly. “I recently found someone here. She is the sweetest, kindest person that I know, and I want to spend all my life in Hell with her. She is the light in this dark world, and I… I want to protect her. I want to be there for her and be her knight in shining armor. I… I want her to never have to feel fear again, and know that I am there to protect her if she ever needed it. She is strong on her own, yes, but I want her to know that, if it came down to it, I could protect her,” Vox added softly. Gold smiled at this.

“Then, when you fight, keep that in mind. You do it for all those reasons, and you do it for her too. That is how you will win every single fight, because even when you technically lose the match, you will have gained experience and knowledge for how you can improve, and you will have worked towards those goals and ambitions,” Gold instructed.

 _“I never really thought about it like that… but… that might be nice to try,”_ Vox thought to himself.

“Alright! I will try it!” exclaimed Vox. And with that, the two began training.

After Vox had finished a very difficult yet strangely rewarding first day of training, he booked his next session and thanked Gold for the advice and the training. As he left, he reflected on the session. Gold had been such an amazing coach. He pushed Vox to go past his limits but never made Vox feel bad about himself. He was never rude or condescending. He was always polite and encouraging and reminded Vox that he had people in his corner quite often. Vox thought it was funny that Gold and Gloves were complete opposites, and yet he worked with both. It made him a little sad though, as he wished Gold could have been An’s brother instead of Gloves. He had a feeling that Gold treated An much better than Gloves did. A thought, of course, that he would never voice aloud.

Vox arrived to work and blinked a few times in surprise. The place was an absolute disaster. Blood covered the floors and walls, and it looked much too prominent and heavy for all of it to have come from a legal fight.

“Ah! My friend! There you are!” he heard Gloves exclaim. Vox forced a smile.

“Hello. I hope that you are well,” he said.

“No! Not at all! I trust that you had a good night?” Gloves replied. Vox nodded at this.

“Yes. I did. Thank you,” Vox replied.

“Good. Good. Well, as you can see, there is a lot of work to be done. We have a very busy night last night, and so there is quite a mess. But, it means that you have a job, right?” Gloves laughed. Vox faked a laugh as well.

“Yes. I suppose. The… um… person who lost all this blood… are they still alive? Or, as alive as one can be down here?” Vox questioned. Gloves’ smile fell off his face at this. He turned to Vox and glared at him.

“Alright. Listen up. You need to get one thing straight. Your job is just to clean. To make this place spotless and appealing for the guests and fighters who will be here in the evening and the night. It is not to ask all sorts of bothersome and meaningless questions that will waste my time,” spat Gloves.

“I just wanted to know if there was a body that I had to move or if I was only supposed to clean up the blood,” lied Vox. He could have just mouthed off, but he thought it was best that he kept his temper and manners in check for now. Gloves seemed to buy the lie, as he laughed and smiled a little.

“Ah! I see! Well, there is no body to dispose of! The night crew already did that! If there ever is a body left for you to clean, don’t worry about it. I will increase your pay. After all, you were only signed up to deal with blood, not bodies,” Gloves said. Vox had to try hard not to show his discomfort at this. He wished that Gloves would pick a face and stick with it. He hated how Gloves was either kind and polite to him, or he was cruel, condescending, and downright ruthless. Vox also hated how indifferent he was to the suffering of others, and how he even seemed to be a bit amused so long as it benefitted him. Vox was never a saint when he was alive, and he would never have claimed to be either, but it did not mean that he took great joys in the sufferings of those who had been caught in the crosshairs of his criminal dealings. At most, he would sometimes force himself to forget them, but he never took joy or amusement in their suffering or their pain. Still, he knew there was little point in trying to argue with Gloves over ethics and morals. This was Hell, and he would just have to learn to accept that sort of mindset.

“Thank you. That is very generous of you, sir,” was all Vox replied before grabbing a mop and going to start work. He tried his best not to think about how, if he wanted to win fights, he would likely end up having to kill like this as well. Either that… or someone would be cleaning his blood off the floor and disposing of his body depending on if he wasn’t strong enough to win.

Vox tried to finish off his work as fast as he could, and he did as best as he could. When he felt he was finished cleaning and had double-checked to ensure there was no blood anywhere else, he walked up to Gloves and knocked on his office door.

“Sir. I… I finished all my work for the day. My shift is nearly over as well and… well. I was just wondering if I could train here for my fight,” asked Vox. Gloves set down the stack of money that he was counting and he walked over to Vox.

“Oh? You have, have you? Well, let’s go take a look and see what you’ve done for today’s shift,” Gloves said as he walked into the club. He saw that Vox had, indeed, down all that he was supposed to, and then he saw the bucket which contained the bloody water and the ragged mop. Gloves smirked at this and walked over to the bucket before kicking it over. “Looks like you actually do have some cleaning left to do. Too bad. You probably won’t have time to go use the training equipment now. That is a shame,” Gloves taunted. Vox nearly slapped Gloves in that smug face of his right there and then, but he managed to get a hold of his temper and he just stood there in silence until Gloves left. As soon as his boss was out of sight, Vox began to break down. He muffled a scream and fell hard to the floor. Tears manifested on his screen, and he sobbed and sobbed.

“Oh! Dear Lucifer! Vox!” cried a familiar voice. Vox looked up and gasped when he saw An standing there. She was holding a bento box in her hands and she looked as though she was going to start sobbing too. Vox tried to change his screen to a happier face, and he stood up on shaking legs.

“O… oh. Hey, An. I didn’t expect to see you here. Um… what are you doing here?” Vox asked her. An didn’t answer him right away. Instead, she merely walked up and hugged him.

“Did Gloves do this to you?” An asked him. Vox immediately shook his head.

“No. No. It is nothing like that at all. I just felt a little bit stressed is all. But I am better now,” Vox lied. An gave him a very skeptical look.

“Vox, you looked so broken down and disappointed. I… I recognize that look in your eyes. I…” she began, but Vox cut her off.

“I really am alright, An. Besides, didn’t you say that you did not want your brother to find out about us? He might get a little bit suspicious if we are seen together,” Vox told her in a low voice. An sighed at this.

“Yeah. I guess so. I just… I wanted to bring you lunch. Well, dinner more like, but whatever. Some fuel to help you through your work and matches if you decide to fight tonight,” she whispered to him. Vox gave her a sweet smile and quickly kissed her cheek. An giggled at this and blushed deeply.

“Well, thank you very much for this. It is truly a pleasant and lovely surprise, and I am so grateful for it,” Vox told her, grabbing the bento box from her. He opened it to see some salmon sashimi and some chicken teriyaki, as well as a side salad and a few tuna rolls arranged in the shape of a heart. There was also a little note in the box as well with a smiling face on it and a thumbs up.

“Do you like it? I tried my best,” An said to him.

“Like it?! Oh, An! I love it! This is honestly incredible!” Vox exclaimed. He then blushed and looked to see if Gloves had noticed the two of them. Vox had to strain to see, but he managed to make out the hazy shape of Gloves, who appeared to still be working in his office and he did not appear to have noticed Vox and An. Vox sighed a little in relief at this and then turned to An with a smile.

“So, when will you be home?” asked An.

“I don’t know. Late, probably. I am going to do a fight tonight. If I win, your brother can take the commission and entrance fee from my payment. If I lose… I guess I will be in debt,” Vox said with a nervous little laugh. An kissed him passionately and sweetly on the forehead and then stood up to leave.

“Well then… win. Win and show them all what you are made of. Teach them that you are not to be underestimated, and teach them to never shove you around,” she told him before she left. Vox smiled softly at this and thanked Lucifer for his little angel.

Vox quickly finished his meal and then he headed back to work. Though it was quite bothersome to have to clean up all that blood again, it was only in a small area and there was a small portion of it that had remained within the bucket. Vox could not help but have a little bit of a spring in his step as well when he thought of An and how kind she had been to him. She truly was incredible and he knew that she was the one that he wanted to spend his time in Hell with. He thanked whatever was looking down on him for sending An into his life, and he thought about this as he worked. It really helped, and the time sped by like nothing else when he thought of his future with An.

When he had finished with his work and when his shift was officially over, he put away the cleaning supplies and he walked to Gloves’ office. He took a breath and then knocked on the door.

“Yeah?” he heard Gloves call. Vox opened the door and stood in the doorway. He took a deep breath, gathered all his courage, and then spoke.

“I’m fighting tonight. If I lose, you can take it from my pay. If I win, I’ll use that money to pay the entrance fee though, and you can take your commission price, as we discussed. But I get the rest. No shortchanging me and no backing out of your word,” Vox told Gloves, who sighed and rolled his eyes.

“You really don’t know when to quit, do you? Uh! Fine! So long as I don’t lose any money, you can fight. But, I am going to bet against you,” Gloves said, and at that moment, an idea came to Vox’s mind. A go big or go home sort of idea.

“How about you and I make a little side deal?” Vox suggested.

“Side deal?” asked Gloves. Vox nodded at this.

“If I win… you triple my pay for the next two months. But, if I were to lose, then you don’t have to pay me for the next six months. A wager, let’s say,” Vox explained. Part of him wondered what the hell he thought he was doing as the words left his mouth. He had only had one lesson, and though he’d done alright, he had no idea how experienced the guy was he was going up against. He had no idea what his odds were, and yet he was taking this insane risk…

But another part of him knew that this was the move he wanted to make. Hell, he’d made this move several times when he was human. Taking an insane risk only to see it work out in his favor. Sure, it hadn’t always worked out for him and he’d had to make more than a few dangerous moves to get himself out of the hole he’d dug himself into, but more often than not, the odds were in his favor and everything was alright. Plus, what was six months of pay anyhow? It wasn’t like he had a time limit down here, and he could make up for the money he lost. He might be a newbie in Hell, but he was no stranger to getting cash in less… morally sound ways. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and wasn’t afraid to get involved in some gang activity either. He would avoid it if he could for both his sake and An’s… but if money got tight, he wasn’t going to back down from that opportunity.

“Oh! You really think you have a shot here! That is precious! Ok then! I will bite! You got yourself a deal!” Gloves answered while laughing hysterically. He shook Vox’s hand and Vox smiled slyly. He was going to get that pay raise, and he would show Gloves. Show him that Vox was not the sort of demon to be messed with.

The time of the match came around fairly quickly, and Vox got ready as best as he could. He eyed the equipment in the backroom, questioning whether or not he could squeeze in a little practice before the match actually began. But he ultimately decided against it, and instead took some time to breathe and clear his mind. Once he was done, he walked over to the ring and saw a new face in the arena. The figure turned to see Vox and smiled at him.

“New here?” asked the other figure. Vox nodded at this.

“Yeah. It is my first fight,” Vox replied to him. His opponent held out his hand.

“Names Senic. Nice to meet you, and best of luck out there tonight,” Senic told Vox.

The two waited in the arena and they watched as demons began to pile into the club. There were so many young couples who Vox saw coming into the club. He supposed that these fight clubs must have been regular date spots for people down here. At least, those who were unafraid to see a very bloody and possibly fatal fight, but Vox also thought that that must be a sight they were used to. He was just shocked they’d pay to see such a thing when they could easily just stand outside and watch one happen.

As more and more demons began to pile into the place, Vox began to feel nervousness and fear filling him. He felt slightly sick and his head felt extremely light. He tried to shake it off. To just focus on mentally preparing himself for the fight, but that nagging voice of worry continued to pester him, making his headache and nausea worsen.

“Hey? You good?” Senic asked him. Vox tried to force a smile, but then nausea returned to him and he merely shook his head in response. “Look, I can’t throw this fight or my agent will literally have my head, but I will give you some advice. Fight with your heart and your damned soul. Don’t fight using your mind. Use your emotions and I am sure that you will be one hell of an opponent,” Senic told him.

“T… thank you. It is very kind of you to say that and to give me such great advice in the first place. I look forward to facing you in the match,” Vox replied. Senic was about to reply when both Vox and he heard Gloves on the loud speaker system.

“Hello, all you lost souls! All you ruffians and thugs looking to spice things up a little bit this evening. Thank you for choosing to join us here at the Fire Pit! Now, we have a very special treat for you all tonight! In the ring tonight we have our very own Vox! He recently arrived in Hell and from the moment he did, he made it very clear that he was going to fight, and that he was going to win. A real blood-born fighter here, folks! And facing him in the ring tonight will be… well, he needs no introduction, but I’m going to give him one anyway! The one! The only! Arsenic! He has won six out of the eight matches he’s fought here, and even when he did lose, it was a very close fight. Why I think his opponents are still recovering now! So folks. Will Arsenic make it seven for nine? Or will Vox steal the show and put a win in his pocket? Ah! I can’t wait to see what will happen here tonight!” Gloves exclaimed.

 _“He is putting all his bets on Senic, but he made it seem like he was completely neutral,”_ thought Vox. He could not help but smile at this. That there was the face of a true television show host. The face that could fool the entire audience. The face the whole crowd would fall in love with without question and would be devoted to, but also a face that was a full 180 from the truth. That was something that Vox could respect, even if he did hate the man with a burning passion.

“Now then! Boxers! Take the ring! Remember that the only rule here is to win! No other rules are enforced!” Gloves said to Vox and Senic. Vox got into the ring on one side and Senic got into the ring on the other. The two walked to the middle and shook hands.

“Ready?” Gloves asked them. Vox and Senic both moved to their own sides and then nodded. “Good. Then, fight!” Gloves exclaimed, and then the fight began.

Vox just barely dodged Senic’s first attack. He rolled under Senic’s fist and dodged to the side. He tried to hit Senic in the side, but Senic was too fast and he caught Vox’s hand. He flipped Vox over and knocked the wind out of him. Luckily for Vox, he had fallen on his back and the impact had not cracked his screen. He tried to stand up, but Senic kneed him in the side and sent him right back onto the ground. Vox gasped for air, clutching his side in pain. He was able to dodge the next attack, but only by a few milliseconds. He ignored the pain in his side and he quickly stood up. This time, he was quicker on his feet, and he moved behind Senic, hitting him hard in the back of the throat. He heard Senic let out a choking cough and for a moment, he felt bad about what he had done. That moment was quickly over, however, when Senic attempted to catch Vox in a chokehold. Vox dodged again, and the two continued the fight.

Vox wasted no time with his next move. He kneed Senic in the back and sent him tumbling over onto the floor. Vox could hear the crowd going wild and a smile crossed his face. He allowed himself a moment to breathe and looked over to see the smiling and cheering faces of the crowd around him.

“Vox! Vox! Vox!” he could hear them chanting. He heard it as they chanted _his_ name and he found himself getting lost in their sea of voices…

That was a very big mistake on his part.

While Vox had been distracted by his ego and the crowd, Senic had gotten back onto his feet and he was ready to go. He charged at Vox and easily took him down. Vox didn’t even have time to gasp before Senic began to hit him with a series of kicks and punches. Every single part of him felt as though he was on fire. He felt it as his ribs cracked under the weight of Senic’s boots. He tried to crawl pathetically away, but it was no use. He felt shame and humiliation fill him. It was his fault that he was losing right now. He had left himself get swept up in the excitement of the crowd and he let vanity get the better of him. Now, because of that, he was going to lose.

 _“Stupid Vox. Stupid. So stupid. Now you are going to lose your pay and then what? What are you going to do? Huh?”_ Vox’s inner voice taunted. Vox let out a small whine at this. He was just about to give up and accept his defeat when his mentor’s voice came into his mind.

 _“Then, when you fight, keep that in mind. You do it for all those reasons, and you do it for her too. That is how you will win every single fight, because even when you technically lose the match, you will have gained experience and knowledge for how you can improve, and you will have worked towards those goals and ambitions,”_ rang Gold’s voice.

The image of An’s smiling and proud face came into his mind, and Vox began to feel a smile of his own forming. He could picture how happy she would be if he won. How her smile would light up the room – no – all of Hell if he were to come home victorious. And he suddenly realized what the real prize was to him. Not the money or the fame. The money would come and go, and so would the fans. But An… she was there for him. She supported him and she truly did love him. Though he had not known her for very long, he knew that to be true. She would be there for him. She would not just be some temporary part of his life. She would be with him forever, and the prize for him was her love. Her joy and pride in him. Her smiling face when he walked home the winner of the match. That was what he truly desired. That was what drove him.

An inspiration surged through Vox and he felt that energy flowing through him. Could feel it as his eyes began to glow and sparks began to crackle from his fingertips. He stood up and saw Senic step back with a very shocked expression on his face. The entire crowd had gone completely silent. Vox saw that the room was now illuminated by a hazy light blue glow, and he realized with a small gasp that the glow was coming from him. He was quite literally glowing. He caught sight of himself in a mirror and had to stop himself from screaming. His eyes were blood red and they pulsed like a flickering lightbulb. His blue claws were illuminated as well, and he could see sparks leaping off of them. His whole body looked as though it was covered with blue fire, and Vox could feel his confidence flowing back into him just like the electricity flowed through him.

Vox did not even hesitate as he walked up to Senic. He forced his rival against the wall and then in one swift move, he grabbed hold of Senic’s arm and let the electricity do its job. He made sure to control it enough to ensure that Senic would not die, but that he would not be able to continue fighting in the match. It was easier to control than Vox had thought it would be, which he was grateful for. Vox watched as Senic convulsed and fell to the ground. He could hear the crowd roaring and once more chanting for him… but this time felt different. This time, he found no joy in it. Only guilt as he watched Senic shake as the electricity pumped through him. Whatever high he’d gotten from the power had faded now, and all he felt was raw guilt. Guilt for hurting someone like Senic, who had been nothing but kind to him. And at that moment, Vox began to doubt.

He had thought that fights were something that he would have no trouble taking part in. He’d had a criminal life before. He’d done things that were illegal. That was dangerous or even harmful to others. He had always reasoned that it was for his benefit, and that that somehow made those things ok. And it had. It had because he had done it for his survival. For the things he felt he needed to survive. And when he had signed up to fight, he had assumed it would be the same. That it would be something he would use to gain traction, respect, and fear in Hell. That that was the path he would take, and that that would be alright with him.

But he had been wrong. This was not the life that he wanted, and that became evidently clear as he choked back a sob while watching Senic writhe on the ground. He didn’t want to be like that. He didn’t want his criminal life to follow him from Earth just because down here it would not be frowned upon or illegal. Fighting was never what he had wanted to do. It wasn’t his dream. His dream was television. To be the host of a television show. That was his dream, and that was how he wanted to make his name known throughout Hell. And sure, it might have been the harder road to take. The uncertain one. But he thought about how Gold had taken a chance and had spent his time in Hell building his dream. He realized that he could do that too. He would have to find a stable source of income and that likely meant still working for Gloves, yes, but he didn’t have to fight. He could save up and start a television show. He could make a living through that, and even if it took thousands of years well… he had time. He had time, and he was going to use that to achieve the dream he’d never fully been able to live out on Earth. He…

“WE HAVE A WINNER!” he heard Gloves announce, and that snapped him back to reality.

“I… won…” Vox stammered out. Gloves rushed over to him and shook his hand madly.

“You sure did, pal! Wow! I seriously underestimated you, Vox. Look, about our little deal…” began Gloves, and Vox scoffed.

“Deals a deal, boss. But you won’t be losing any more bets or side deals. This was my first and last fight,” Vox told Gloves.

“What?! No! You are a star, Vox! You have to keep fighting! You could make so much money for me… I mean us,” Gloves pleaded. Vox didn’t have the energy to deal with Gloves, so he just walked away and made his way over to Senic, offering him a hand. Senic hesitated, but then took Vox’s hand.

“Y… you were really good out there,” Senic complimented. Vox smiled as he helped Senic up.

“Thanks. And you were too,” Vox replied.

“Hey… before you turned the fight around, you looked like you were… I don’t know… somewhere else. Where did you go?” Senic asked. A dreamy expression covered Vox’s face.

“I was thinking about the woman that I fell in love with, and how all I want is to go home to her right now and see her smiling face,” Vox told him. Senic chuckled at this and patted Vox on the back.

“You go and see her then. Surprise her with your victory, though, I am sure she had no doubt that you would win,” Senic encouraged. He then gave a little chuckle. “I will hold off the crowd. Not like I haven’t had experience with that,” he added.

“Thank you,” Vox said before he snuck out of the back of the fight club and took off as fast as he could.

As Vox began his journey back to his house, he began to think about all the plans that he could now set into motion. Without the time limit that he had been set with when he was human, he could do anything now. He could be anything. So, why not take that chance? Why not try and become the man that he had always wanted to be? Why not take that chance? It was ironic that he was using Hell as the place to try and better himself, but he didn’t care. That was the life he wanted, and he was going to fight for that.

When Vox arrived back at the place he and An were sharing, he opened the door with a bright smile upon his face. He could not wait to see An and tell her all the good news. Part of him worried for a moment whether or not she’d be mad at him for quitting his fighting matches so soon, but another part of him knew that she would support him regardless of his profession. He felt a surge of excitement fill him as thought about all the plans he could tell her about his television host career, and about plans for the two of them and how they could spend parts of their eternity. Vox was in mid-thought when a sweet smell wafted from the kitchen and his stomach growled. He thought that it smelt like an apple pie, and the thought made his mouth water. He waltzed into the kitchen, gliding as though he were skating on ice.

“Oh my! An! That smells amazing! Is there anything that I can help with?” Vox had begun to say, but he cut himself off when he heard small gasps and whimpers coming from behind the kitchen counter. He then heard a loud and high-pitched scream and he rushed around the counter.

“Oh dear Lucifer! Please! Please let her be ok. Please. Please don’t let me be too late,” Vox silently pleaded. He also felt rage begin to fill him. Whoever was attacking An would regret their actions immensely. They would pay, and they would wish that they never stepped foot in the house. They…

When Vox saw the sight around the corner, he had to blink a few times to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He prayed that they were. More than he had prayed at any point in his life. Every time his eyes opened, he hoped that the scene in front of him would fade. But these hopes and prayers were not answered, for no matter how many times he opened and shut his eyes, the scene remained the same.

There, hunched over the bleeding body of a young squirrel demon, was An. She was gnawing on the young demon’s arm, but Vox could tell that she was partway into her meal, as the demon was missing part of her leg and part of her face. She had stopped crying and whimpering since she had passed out after the sounds that Vox had heard before. An did not seem to have noticed or cared about this though. Her sharp teeth tore into the arm she was holding, spraying blood everywhere. The only thing that snapped her out of her feeding frenzy was when Vox let out a horrified gasp. She turned towards the sound and dropped the arm immediately. She tried to wipe the blood from her face, but it only seemed to smudge more. The light which hung from her head was soaked in blood, and crimson droplets fell as she stood up and began to move towards Vox.

“V… Vox! I… I can explain!” she cried out as she moved closer and closer to Vox. Vox began to back away slowly, shaking and babbling nonsense that didn’t even make coherent sense to him…

And then he ran.

He ran into his bedroom as quick as he could and he locked the door behind him. Never in his life or afterlife had he been more grateful for the fact that he had access to a lockable door. He stumbled towards his bed and then sat down on it. He could hear An’s voice outside his door, pleading with him to open the door. To let her in so that the two of them could talk. But Vox did not move. He wasn’t even sure he could have brought himself to open the door even if he wanted to. His hands were shaking far too badly and his vision was blurred with tears. The image of An feasting upon the demon in the kitchen was burned into his mind too, and he could still see the flesh between her teeth as she tried to call out to him. The way it swung back and forth like a pendulum. The way the blood fell from the stripes of flesh in her mouth, covering the floor in crimson stains. The smell of something that was not quite dead, but that was close enough to resemble it near perfectly. And when Vox finally did move, it was not to let An into the room. It was simply to vomit. He drew in a few breaths and then collapsed to the floor, sobbing and screaming. He looked towards the door where An was still trying to reason with him, but her words were lost to him. Only one coherent thought echoed within his head.

“What the hell did I get myself into?”


	7. I Believe In You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vox seeks advice for his situation with An.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings are below: 
> 
> 1\. References to alcohol consumption  
> 2\. Mentions of cannibalism, including some mildly graphic scenes.   
> 3\. Mentions of toxic relationships. 
> 
> If there are any triggers not listed here that you feel should be, please let me know in the comments and I will edit this section.

Vox was not quite sure how long he had stayed in his room. He knew he’d spent quite a deal of time vomiting and then he had crawled into his bed and fallen asleep. He had thought at first that sleeping would be impossible, but he’d been more exhausted than he had realized, and he had crashed almost immediately. His sleep was free of his usual nightmares, but even still, it was not restful. Not in the least. For his normal nightmares of his past were just replaced by new ones. Ones of An, blood dripped from her mouth like a crimson waterfall as she hunted him down. No matter how fast he ran, he never seemed to be quick enough to escape her. He’d awaken with a shrill scream, check to see that he was still intact, and then he would fall back to sleep after a few moments of tossing and turning, only to have the same nightmare happen. Repeating over and over on a horrifying loop.

Eventually, Vox decided he had to leave the bedroom. He was starting to feel hungry, and he could feel how dry his mouth was. Or rather, he felt the sensation of having a dry mouth. A cruel simulation of human need replicated by his demonic form. He knew that he could probably go a while longer without eating, but still, he knew he could not hide forever in his room. He had to do something. Even if he could go without eating or drinking. He knew that he would also grow far too restless just sitting alone in his room. So, he drew in a short breath of confidence and then he headed out of his room.

Once in the hallway, he looked around to try and see if An was anywhere to be found. When he did not see her, he found that part of him felt saddened by her absence. As terrifying as the whole ordeal was, he did still care about her. He still loved her, and part of him could not help but be sad over not seeing her there. Nevertheless, Vox made his way to the kitchen to make some breakfast for himself. It was then that he saw a plate filled with fruit, ham, and some eggs. He also saw a piece of paper hidden underneath the plate. His brows furrowed and he picked it up. He unfolded the paper and it said:

“Dearest Vox,

I do so hope that you can find it within yourself to forgive me. I would understand if you could not but… but I would be deeply saddened by it. I… I wanted to tell you about all this, Vox. I truly did. But I just… I didn’t know how to. And I understand that that fixes nothing, but I just hope that we can chat later on. Maybe we could find a way to work through this. Maybe.

Anyhow, I thought it would be best for me to give you some room, so I’ve gone out for the day. I will be back this evening, so I hope to see you there. Vox… I… I just need you to know that I never, ever meant to hurt you. Ever.

With deepest regret,

An,”

Vox could not stop tears from falling as he held the note close to his chest.

“Damn it! Damn it! Why?! Why did this happen?! Why did this have to happen?!” he cried out in sorrow and pain. He stood there like that for quite some time. Sobbing and shaking. Unable to figure out what his next move would be, and quite frankly, part of him did not want to make a next move. He just wanted to stand there and sob. Let time and reality melt away around him and stay within the darkness of his mind. He felt as though he did not know anything. Like his whole world was spinning out of his control. He felt like his life was slowly slipping out of his grasp and that there was nothing he could do about it. He needed some way to get out of his own mind. To get some help piecing all this together…

GOLD!

Yes! That was it! He could go to Gold and ask him for some advice! Gold knew An well. He could give Vox advice on that side of An’s life, and on how he should move forward with things. Vox knew that, ultimately, it would be up to him to figure out what he would do about his relationship with An, but he thought that getting some words of wisdom could not hurt. So, with the outline of a plan in mind, Vox quickly ate his breakfast, and then he headed off to Gold’s fight club.

When he arrived, he saw Gold speaking with a very tall, well-dressed demon who appeared to be either an ant demon or a praying mantis demon. Vox could not tell from where he was standing. The demon was wearing a dark green robe and matching green suit underneath it. A tall pine-green hat covered his head, however, two long, tin antenna poked out the top, standing proudly atop the demon’s head. Both antennae looked sharp, and Vox wondered if the demon had sharpened them himself, or whether they were naturally sharp. He watched as the tall demon blew Gold a kiss and then walked out of the club, giving Vox a wink as he left the building. Vox blinked a few times in confusion, shook his head, and then he walked over to Gold.

“I apologize if I interrupted anything important,” Vox said, and Gold shook his head at this.

“No. Not at all. We had just finished our conversation and over it, we had not… I would have been grateful for the interruption,” Gold told him. Vox could not help but raise a curious eyebrow at this.

“Oh? I… forgive me… but who was that?” Vox questioned. What he really wanted to know was why the stranger had blown a kiss to Gold and then winked at him. Gold let out an exhausted sigh and walked over to his office. He poured two glasses of whiskey and offered one to Vox, who nodded a thanks and then knocked down the entire thing in a single go.

“That foul piece of utter trash is one of the overlords in Hell. He runs the most popular porn studio in Hell too. And… well… he…” Gold began, before sighing, drinking a shot of whiskey, and then sighing again. “He is my ex-boyfriend,” Gold muttered. Vox nearly let his glass fall, but luckily for him, he was able to catch the glass at the last second. He took a moment to calm down and then he spoke.

“You and him… you two… you dated?!” Vox gasped, and Gold’s face fell. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Vox.

“Yes. We did. Do you have a problem with that?” Gold sneered, and Vox immediately understood what he meant. He also understood why Gold was so defensive. Why he had his back up, and why he reacted in the manner he did. And of course, he could not judge him for it. All he could do was try and reassure Gold that he did not harbor the hate which Gold feared he did.

“No! Not at all! He just doesn’t seem like your type is all. I mean… from how you speak of him… he just does not seem as kind or warm-hearted as you,” Vox replied in a soft voice. Gold took in a breath of relief at this and gave a nervous chuckle. The cold, icy glare in his eyes was gone now, and it was replaced by the soft gaze that he normally had in those wise eyes of his.

“Alright. Good. Forgive me if I seemed upset or cruel. I just… I had to deal with that hate for a long while on Earth, and it would have been a damn shame if you turned out to be like that,” Gold said. “Anyhow, yeah, he is the polar opposite of me but… maybe that was part of what attracted me to him. He was confident. So cocky and so damn conceited. But he was a charmer for sure. When we met, he just swept me right off my feet. He was the most handsome man I’d ever seen, and I just couldn’t resist his charms. So, we got together. For ten long years, I tried to make it work. I’d excuse away the cheating, lying, and the constant lack of love. I think part of me knew that he was just using me. All I ever was to him was a side piece he could use if he got bored. It was love to me, but to him… I was just another fling. One he wanted to keep having on and off, sure, but… he just wasn’t honest about it. I wouldn’t have cared if he’d just told me that was what he’d wanted. I would have understood. Everyone has different ideas for what they seek in a relationship, and that is ok. But… but he knew I was looking for a more long term relationship, and I just… I wish he’d been honest with me,” Gold shared. He then chugged the whiskey in his glass and sighed. “Anyhow, I got wise and I broke things off with him. Told him I didn’t want to be with him. He was pissed, but mostly just because no one ever rejects him. No one ever tells him no,” Gold added.

“I… I’m so sorry,” Vox said in a whispered voice. He knew what it was like to be used for your body. Knew the pain and self-doubt it caused. Knew it all too well.

“Yeah, so am I. I’m sorry I let it go on for as long as it did. Man was, no, is a total jerk,” Gold replied.

“Why was he here?” Vox asked, and Gold sighed.

“Overlords tend to stick their noses in most establishments that are doing considerably well. They make deals and they like to be kept in the loop about what is happening in Hell. Most are too busy to actually do that job, sure, but Tiss… Tiss took the chance to combine his overlord duties with his… personal love for pissing me off,” Gold answered. He then exhaled and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter though. I can deal with his nonsense. Now then… what can I do for you today? Did you want to do some more training?” asked Gold. Vox shook his head at this.

“Um… actually… there was something I had wanted to talk to you about. Or… well, ask for some advice on, to be perfectly honest,” Vox informed Gold, who raised an eyebrow at this.

“Oh? Did something go wrong with the fight?” Gold inquired.

“No! No! Nothing like that at all! I actually won the fight,” Vox replied, and he saw Gold light up at this.

“You did?! Oh my gosh! That is amazing! Congratulations! And not to toot my own horn, but I knew having those reasons at the front of your mind would carry you to victory!” Gold chuckled. Vox looked down at this.

“It is one of those reasons that I was actually wanting to talk about. See… something happened between An and I,” Vox told Gold. His voice was lower now as though he was trying to tell a secret to someone amongst a crowd of people. And that was partly true, he supposed. He was telling a secret, only it was just him and Gold in the club. Still, Vox felt as though he had to keep his voice low, afraid of unseen eyes and ears.

“With An? Oh dear! What happened? Are you two alright?” Gold questioned. He led Vox over to a couch and the two sat down.

“I… I don’t know,” Vox admitted, and tears formed on his screen. They manifested and fell to the ground, making a crackling and hissing sound as they did so.   
I don’t know anymore. I found someone who is so unbelievably kind and caring… and then… and then… I… I…” Vox sobbed.

“You what?” Gold asked him softly.

“I came home to find her literally biting the flesh off some poor demon! She was just there in the kitchen. Tearing into that helpless, crying demon and I… I just froze up. And then I ran. I locked myself in my room and I just hid there. Just hid and I couldn’t even face her. Couldn’t stop seeing her… her eating that demon in the kitchen,” Vox explained as best as he could through pained sobs. He heard Gold sigh.

“So, she is still struggling with it then. She… she’d made so much progress last time we talked. I had hoped she was not giving in to her urges anymore, but I suppose she could not fight it any longer,” mumbled Gold. Vox looked over at him with shock evident in his tear-filled eyes.

“Wait, you knew? You knew she… she…” Vox started, and Gold finished for him.

“Yes. I knew she was a cannibal. You likely don’t know this yet, but there is a place in Hell known as the Cannibal County. Many of my fighters live there, so I occasionally have to travel there for work. Or, used to, when the club was lesser-known, and I didn’t have staff who could do that for me. Anyhow, I was going to meet up with a new potential fighter many years back and I saw An there in the Cannibal County. I’d known An and Gloves for… oh, maybe three or four years at that point, so I recognized her easily. I was going to say hello and ask if she was visiting someone too, but then I saw it. In her hands was the kidney of some poor chap she’d killed. From the looks of it, she’d ripped him apart with her bare hands. She was covered in blood, and I saw the animalistic look within her eyes. She looked wild. Looked out of control. That was, at least, until she saw me. Then, the hunger and bloodlust faded, and she dropped the kidney. Out of the two of us… I think she might have actually looked more scared than I did at that moment. I think she hated that I’d seen her like that too, to be honest,” Gold told Vox.

“What did you do?” Vox asked him.

“I asked her is she wanted to go and get something to drink. She nodded and then we both just left. I called my potential fighter and told him that I’d have to reschedule. Luckily for me, they were very kind about it. Anyhow, I went with An to a small café outside of the county and we both got something to drink. While we were there, I asked her how long she’d been a cannibal. She quietly admitted that she’d been a cannibal ever since she was a human. She added that she wanted more than anything to stop. To defy those urges. She told me she hated what she did. Not only that, but she hated herself for what she did. She… you have to know that she never wanted this life, Vox. She… she was born into it,” Gold explained, and Vox blinked in disbelief at this.

“You mean her family… they taught her how to…” Vox began, and Gold nodded.

“They raised her as a killer and as a cannibal, yes,” Gold confirmed, and Vox felt as though he might vomit.

“How could they do that to her? To make a child do such a thing is beyond cruel! Beyond unjust!” Vox whispered in utter horror. He could not believe her parents could force her on such a dark and twisted path. That they could taint such a gentle and kind soul such as An. Though, it did explain where Gloves got his cold and sadistic personality from. A thought came to Vox’s mind and his eyes shot wide open. “Wait! If they taught An all that and now she… struggles with this… then what about Gloves?” Vox inquired.

“Gloves got hooked on another type of violence and power. While An got a taste for human and demon flesh, Gloves got a taste for using others. Taking everything from them until they were nothing but little, empty husks that he could control like dolls or puppets. He just wastes them up until they cannot do anything for him, and then he gets rid of them,” Gold answered. Vox wanted to sigh in relief over the fact that his boss was not a cannibal, but he was unsure what Gold said about Gloves was any better than his original assumptions. Plus, at least An was kind, sweet, and caring outside of her darker nature. Gloves was just cruel and nasty all around, and Vox was almost certain that he did not have a loving or kind side that was hidden away.

Vox sighed, feeling tired and conflicted with all this new information. The more he thought about An, the more he realized that he could not stop himself from loving her. The more he realized that, despite her cannibalistic side, he still wanted to build a future with her. He could not imagine a life in Hell with anyone else. He simply could not. Despite only knowing her for such a short amount of time, she’d somehow become his entire future in a matter of days and nothing could change that now. But…

But part of him was still scared. Part of him could not help but be afraid. Afraid of this part of her life. He struggled to get the image of her covered in blood out of his mind, and he knew that, if they did stay together, that would be something which he would struggle with for quite some time. Part of him was frightened for himself. Scared her desires would cause her to attack him or even kill him. He was scared that he would be sitting and chatting with her one moment, and the next she would be ripping into his next wildly and without any mercy. He was also scared for others too. He wasn’t sure he could handle coming back home to see her killing again. To hear her victims pleading for help. He was terrified also of the kills which would not take place at their house. The ones he might not find out about until after. If he found out at all, that is. A sense of dread filled him as he thought about how many demons she might kill and devour if they were not able to help her get over this craving for flesh. How many lives would she claim, and how could he just turn a blind eye to that? He had sworn to himself that he would lead a better life here than he did on Earth, so how could he just ignore violence like that?

But the person he was most afraid for was actually An herself. He was terrified that her own craving would be her downfall. He could not shake the feeling that she would end up getting hurt or worse in a failed hunt. He was so scared that he would return home to an empty apartment, and that no matter how long he waited, she would never return home. He loved An, and he knew her to be a very strong and capable woman, but he also knew that there were many demons in Hell who could defeat her in a fight. And if there was a whole county only for cannibals, and An was a visitor of that place, then he could only imagine the sort of danger she would be in there. She was good. She wanted to change. She would fight the urge to kill as long as she could. But Vox knew that there were many demons in Hell who would not do the same. Demons who did not care who they killed, and ones who were more than just killers due to some deep-seated lust for blood and flesh. He knew there would be those who were beyond sadistic. Beyond merciless. Those who would not only hunt and kill, but would torture their victims as well. And the thought that she could fall prey to those sorts of monsters… that truly terrified him.

“Don’t give up on her,” he heard Gold say to him, snapping him back to reality.

“What?” Vox questioned.

“I said, don’t give up on her. Please. She… she really needs you in her life. And I know that doesn’t mean you are obligated to stay, and ultimately you have to do what is best for you and your mental wellbeing. But… but I… you are so good to her, Vox. I know that, and I haven’t even seen the two of you together. That is how much I know you care. And besides me, she’s never had someone in her life like that. Ever,” Gold told him. “Plus… I see the way your eyes light up when you talk about her. The way you seem to just be off in another world. That sort of love… it is the kind you have to hold onto. Trust me on that,” Gold added, and his voice cracked a little as he spoke.

“Do you think she could get better? If we got her some help? A doctor or counselor. Someone who deals with something like this, and would be willing to help,” Vox asked. Gold took a moment to consider this and then sighed.

“I don’t know, to be fully honest. It will be tough enough finding someone willing to assist… but whether or not it will work is… well… I couldn’t say,” Gold admitted.

“But is there a chance? A good chance?” Vox nagged, and once again, Gold fell silent for a few moments before answering the question.

“Yes. I think that there is,” Gold answered, and Vox felt relief flood him as it never had before. If Gold thought that there was a real shot for them to get An the help that she needed, then that was good enough for him. He would find a way to battle through the fear and worries. Through the nightmares and hellish images that pried their way into his mind. They would find something that would work. He’d reach out to every single counselor and doctor in Hell if he had to. Anything to help An and to keep her safe. He wasn’t sure what the future held for the two of them, but he did know that whatever it would bring, he wanted to share it with An. Wanted to struggle and succeed by her side. Wanted to laugh and cry with her. Above all though:

He wanted her.

“Thank you, Gold. I… I know what I have to do now,” Vox called as he headed out of the club, breaking into a sprint as he ran towards the door.

“While I admire your spirit, I should remind you that you do have work after our scheduled training time, which we spent talking about this little situation. So… you might want to go there first, then go and be Romeo,” Gold shouted to him. Vox blinked in surprise when he realized how late it was, and then laughed at the Romeo comparison. He never took himself to be the “Romeo” sort, but he supposed he was now.

“Right. I will do that, and then go and set things right with An,” Vox replied to Gold. “Thanks. For everything,” he added with a smile. “Oh, and you are too good for that loser, by the way,” he shouted, and he saw Gold flush at this.

“Hehe, thanks. Now go on. You don’t want to end up being late for work, do you?” Gold called to Vox, and Vox laughed. He waved goodbye to Gold and then rushed off again.

When Vox arrived at the Fire Pit, he found that the place once again was covered with blood. He stared in utter shock and bewilderment as he took in the sight. How had all this gotten there overnight?! Not just overnight, but within the time frame that Vox had been gone for. Yes, he’d been out at Gold’s place for a little while, but that was during the day. If all this was from the fighters who’d followed his match…

It must have been a blood bath.

“AH! VOX! THERE YOU ARE! How’s my star doing today?! Ready to reconsider things yet?” Vox heard Gloves calling to him, and he sighed. He turned to face his boss with a blank expression on his face.

“Sir, I am sorry, but there is nothing to reconsider here. I do not want to lead that life, and I have other ambitions I’d rather follow. Ones that I’d much rather work towards,” Vox told him plainly. Gloves sighed at this.

“Damn shame. We could have done great things together, you and I. Could have ruled the ring. Now all you will be is some sad little punk just barely getting by. Oh yeah. Speaking of, I was meaning to ask you where you’ve been staying at the last few days,” Gloves said. Vox felt his mouth go dry and he had to do his best not to react too unnaturally. He made it seem as though he was just taking a moment to think, and then he shrugged.

“I don’t know the address or anything. It is just some old, rundown place in the city. My trainer, Gold, let me rent it out, and he’s been helping me get around town and stuff,” Vox fibbed.

“Gold! Ha! Imagine that! You know, Gold is actually a pal of mine!” exclaimed Gloves. Vox acted shocked at this.

“Oh! Wow! Really?!” he gasped. Gloves nodded, seemingly proud of himself.

“Yes indeed. He’s a real close pal of mine. My sis and I know him pretty well and… oh! Did I tell you that I had a sister?” Gloves rambled, and Vox began to get the sense that he was, perhaps, a tad bit drunk.

“No, I don’t believe so,” Vox replied to him. He saw Gloves clap his hands at this.

“Oh! Well, she is just a peach! I mean, god, she is such a sweetheart! Naïve as Hell and foolish too, but she’s got a heart of gold let me tell you. She is the most hopeless romantic too. I think she thinks she’ll find love here, but like, that is so dumb. Love doesn’t exist down here. It just doesn’t. You think you’ll find someone and then… POOF! Nothing! It just all blows up in your face. Next thing you know she’s packing her bags and taking everything she managed to steal before you get home from work. Then you’re left going, “Shela! I didn’t mean it! Come back!” and she just slams the door and you’re just left sobbing on the floor. You know what I mean?” Gloves asked, finally cutting off his long (and strangely personal) tangent. It took everything in Vox not to punch Gloves in the face for the things he said about An, but he knew better than to lose his temper here.

“I’m afraid I haven’t been in Hell long enough to say whether that is true or not,” Vox said, and Gloves threw his hands up in the air dramatically.

“Uh! God! You are so damn serious! Come on, man! Live it up a little! Speak your mind! I can’t stand it when people just nod along and agree with every little thing you say! It really pisses me off, you know?! Boils my blood! And you know, I’m right too. Love ain’t a thing here. Just all some big… big lie brewed up by some somebody to give us hope. Hope they will then crush into tiny, tiny pieces and eat up!” rambled Gloves. He nearly tripped over his own feet a few times as he was ranting, confirming Vox’s suspicions from before.

“Well, in that case… I can see both your point and An’s point. I see little harm in holding out hope that one may be able to obtain the future they long for, but that said, Hell really is not the typical place for such dreams to come true,” Vox said, hoping this answer would satisfy Gloves and get him to drop the topic. He saw Gloves frown at this, but then the man shrugged and turned away from Vox.

“With a mindset like that, I’m sure you and An would get along swimmingly,” muttered Gloves, and Vox had to bite back a wince at the ice in the man’s voice.

“I shall have to meet her sometime then. Perhaps we could share our foolish ideas and tales,” Vox managed to reply, and he saw Gloves freeze at this. The man stood still for a moment, and then cruelly laughed. 

“Sure. Sure. When Hell freezes over, I will give you a call and set something up for you two,” Gloves half-chuckled, half-hissed. Vox forced a laugh.

“Haha. Yeah. Sounds good,” he grimaced.

“Anyhow, I’ll bugger off and let you get back to work. Or, get to work, I guess. Either way, just come see me when you are done so I can give you your pay for the fight,” instructed Gloves, and Vox nodded.

“Yes, boss,” Vox called as Gloves walked back to his office and shut the door behind him. Vox gave a sigh of relief and relaxed.

 _“Well, that was… awkward,”_ he thought to himself. He then shook his head and got to work.

Despite the massive amount of blood in the club, Vox was actually finished cleaning remarkably fast. For the remainder of his shift, he tidied up the place and did his best to attend to customers who came into the club. There were many newcomers who had either come to train or to ask a question or two. Since Gloves never came out of his office even when called, Vox decided to act as the acting manager as well as the custodian. And in all honesty… it was rather fun! Everyone was strangely kind and even those who were not the friendliest at the start ended up coming around to him. Most people seemed to just like having someone new around to talk to, and Vox supposed those were likely some of the regulars of the place. New faces to him, sure, but likely not to the club. Others who were likely new to the club seemed to just like having a friendly and enthusiastic person greeting them. But whatever the reason was, everyone who went to the club that day left smiling and telling Vox that they looked forward to seeing him again very soon. Vox felt a warmth and joy fill him at that, and it made him stand a little taller. If he was in good standings with the people he came into contact with, not only did that make life much easier and safer, but it also meant people actually liked him. Or at least found him interesting. That was a great sign as he would have to be liked in order for his business and show to do well.

 _“Oh! I should look into what sort of things people down here enjoy in their entertainment. That will likely end up being helpful in the future,”_ Vox thought to himself as he finished helping a young fox demon with their purchase. He was just about to head to Gloves’ office when a voice called out and stopped him.

“Vox?! Is that you?!” the voice cried, and Vox turned to see Senic standing there smiling widely at him.

“Senic! Hey! How are you?” Vox greeted as he walked over to the fellow.

“Eh, I’m doing alright. Got a stern talking to from my manager, but other than that, I can’t complain. I’m still kicking, so you know, that’s something,” Senic replied with a shrug.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear about the situation with your manager. I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with the outcome of the fight yesterday. If so, I am so sorry. I never intended to get you into any trouble,” Vox apologized, and Senic laughed.

“No need for that, man. My manager is a real piece of work. He always does this. Hell, even if I win, he does it. It’s never good enough for him, but who cares? As long as he and I keep getting paid, it is all good. Plus, I don’t let work get me down. Work and my personal life are two separate things,” Senic told him.

“That is a really good way to do things,” commented Vox. He wished that he could have done that, but work and his personal life were bound to each other in his life, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

“Yeah, well, it’s gotten me by this long, so you know, might as well stick with it,” Senic said. “Anyhow, I was meaning to ask how that girl of yours is. How are you two doing?” Senic inquired.

“We… we had a bit of a falling out, but I am going to try and fix things with her tonight,” Vox admitted to him.

“Ah. I see. So, she didn’t take the news well then, huh?” sighed Senic.

“News?” Vox asked, confused as to what he meant.

“Yeah. About you quitting fighting? That was what you were fighting about, isn’t it?” Senic said to him. He looked completely lost now. Vox looked lost as well, though obviously for a different reason. He, in light of all which had happened the night before, had completely forgotten about telling An that he was quitting fighting. Though he was fairly certain she would not have trouble with his change in career plans, it did lead him to wonder when exactly they would have time for that little chat. He sighed and shook his head.

“Actually, she doesn’t know yet. The falling out was about something else,” Vox explained, though he left out the main cause of the falling out. He did not feel it was his place to share such information. Senic seemed to understand this and simply gave Vox a small smile.

“Well, I hope two are able to work things out. You seem to really love her, and it would be a damn shame if the two of you didn’t end up becoming Hell’s cutest couple,” was all he said on the matter before clearing his throat and changing the subject. “I don’t know if you keep up with recent news or gossip, but there is going to be this pretty big party over at a club near here. It is super exclusive, but a friend of mine said she could get me and a few people tickets in. It is happening in two days, so hopefully that is good enough notice for you to get the time off,” Senic informed him, and Vox’s eyes quite literally lit up at this.

“Oh! That sounds amazing! Do you think that your friend would be able to get An a ticket as well? I think she would like the party, and I would hate to go without her,” requested Vox. It seemed like something that the two of them could enjoy, and it would be a wonderful chance for An to meet Senic, assuming they’d never met before.

“Yeah! For sure! If you’re bringing your girlfriend, is it ok if my partner joins us too? They love this sort of scene, and I also wanted you to get a chance to meet them,” Senic said, and Vox smiled.

 _“Great minds think alike,”_ he thought to himself.

“Of course! I would love to meet them!” Vox replied excitedly, and Senic beamed at this.

“Great! I will tell my friend to get four tickets then!” he exclaimed with a happy little grin. He then glanced down at his watch and sighed. “I should probably head out. And let you get back to work. But I will see you around, ok?” Senic said to him.

“Yeah! For sure! I am looking forward to the party!” Vox called to Senic as the man made his way to the door.

“See you around,” Senic shouted, and with one more wave, he disappeared out of the door.

“How did I get so lucky to meet so many amazing people?” Vox mumbled to himself. He then looked towards Gloves’ office and sighed. “Well, guess they can’t all be saints,” he muttered as he made his way to the office door and knocked.

“Come in,” Gloves called, and Vox did.

“I’m here for my payment,” Vox informed him, and Gloves pointed lazily to a desk in the corner of the room, not bothering to look up from the adult magazine he was gazing at. Vox shrugged and walked over to the desk, trying to avoid tripping over the half-empty beer cans and wrappers that had images of either drugs or sex on them. Vox shuddered to think what it was Gloves was ingesting, and he forced himself to focus on getting his money and going. He spotted a brown envelope with his name on it and had to stop himself from sighing aloud in relief. He grabbed the envelope and double-checked the contents to ensure that all the money was there before putting it in his pocket. He briefly considered saying goodbye to Gloves, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, he quickly made his way out of the office and then he headed home.

When he arrived, he found that the door was partially open and that he could hear a sweet voice singing in the kitchen. He smiled and felt his heart begin to race as An’s voice filled the air. He sighed and shook his head. He was so hopelessly in love with her that even though it clouded his logical side, he did not care at all. He just knew that he wanted to try and make things work between them. That was all that mattered to him.

Vox walked into the house and saw An walking from the kitchen to the living room. She sat down and pulled out some thread and knitting needles and began to knit, still humming the tune from earlier. She appeared to be trying to make something or any other out of blue, red, and purple fabrics. Vox made his way into the living room and he cleared his throat.

“Hi…” he greeted shyly. An turned slowly around. She gave him a nervous smile before looking to the ground.

“Oh… uh… hi. Um… how was your day?” An asked him.

“Good. Good,” Vox replied. His voice was quiet and his heart was pounding as he drew up all the courage and strength that he had. “An… can we talk about what happened yesterday?” Vox questioned, and An, to his surprise, nodded at this.

“Yes. I… I think that would be a good idea,” she agreed and the two took a seat on the couch. Vox drew in a few deep breaths and then he spoke.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you…” he began, but he cut himself off. He thought back to the letter she’d written. When she’d said that she had wanted to tell him, but could not find the right way to. And suddenly he understood why she could not tell him. Looking into those big, bright eyes of hers, he understood why she could never have told him such a thing without this sort of situation happening. It was, in part, because she thought she could control it. Because she thought she could push away that part of her life. End if for good. Another part was likely embarrassed. Having tried so hard to overcome and defeat it only to have failed and fallen back into old patterns. Yes, those were both likely part of the reason why she could not have told him, but Vox knew in his heart that the main reason was that…

“I didn’t want you to change how you looked at me. I didn’t want you to lose that warm glow you have in those stunning crimson eyes of yours. I adored the admiration that you always showed me, even with something as simple as a glance. I was so scared to lose that. Vox… you are the only person whose ever looked at me like that. With everyone else, it is either fear or lust. Sometimes pity too, I guess. I see it in their eyes and I just… you don’t understand. You are so special, Vox. You are the kindest soul I’ve ever met, and I suspect that you are the kindest I will ever meet. I just… I wanted to hold onto that joy and happiness. Even if only for a little while, I wanted to know what it meant to be loved. Not only used and thrown away but to be really loved. To be cared about. To feel that heart-racing, pulse-quickening sensation everyone always says is so wonderful. I know that was selfish of me… but I… I just wanted to have a chance to have something that resembled a normal life,” she explained, confirming what Vox had suspected to be the main reason she had kept quiet about her cannibalistic side.

Vox knew what that want was like. To long for a normal life. To want to be loved. To be treated fairly and to be cared for. He knew what it was like to be used to. To be nothing more than an object to the one who called themselves your love. The person who told you over and over that you could trust them. That they were just doing what was best for you. Yes, Vox knew that type of “love” all too well, for it had been nearly every single relationship that he’d had on Earth. At least the ones that had lasted longer than just a single night, that is. So, he knew why she would want to hide that part of her life from him. And in all truth, he’d hidden his criminal past from her, so it would have been hypocritical of him to judge her for doing the same thing.

“I understand. Now… I do have to ask… well… An, do you… would you be open to some new treatments for your… cravings?” Vox asked her, and An nodded immediately.

“Yes! Of course! Anything to help me stop this hunger inside me!” she insisted, and Vox smiled softly at this.

“I am glad to hear that is the case,” he told her. An began to smile, but then bit her lip and began to fidget nervously. Her light changed from bright pink to deep yellow, which Vox took as the color it turned if she was worried.

“So… what does this mean for us then? I mean, as a couple. Do you still want to be with me?” she asked, and Vox took a moment to consider how to phrase what it was he wanted to say. When he was ready, he began to speak.

“An, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone before in my life. And I know it might sound silly to say that considering how long we’ve known each other, but you are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. Well, I guess I should say the rest of my afterlife with. The point is… I truly and honestly love you. I want your highs and your lows. Your happy days and your sad ones. I want to experience it all with you. I won’t lie to you, An. What I saw yesterday in the kitchen… it really scared me. It was a side of you that I did not know was there, and it terrified me when I saw it. But though it might take me some time to fully come around to things, I do want to try and make this work out. Because at the end of the day, that side… it is a part of you. Of the woman I love and care so deeply for. And I believe in you, An. You can beat this. I know you can. And you’d better believe that I am going to be there with you to help you whenever you need it,” Vox promised her. An chocked back a sob and Vox saw tears rushing down her face. Her light was a cross between aqua and pink, and Vox was not quite sure how to read that.

“Do you mean that? Truly?” she whispered, and Vox nodded.

“Yes. With all my heart,” he swore. An let out a small whimper and then she rushed up and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, Vox! How truly lucky I am to have found someone so kind and loving! I cannot thank you enough for your forgiveness and for giving me a second dance. I won’t let you down! I won’t!” she sobbed out, and Vox began to stroke her hair gently.

“Shh. Shh. I know, An. I know. You could never let me down. Ever,” Vox told her, and she gave a little smile at this.

“I love you,” she mumbled as she pressed her face against Vox’s shirt.

“I love you too,” Vox whispered, and he kissed her forehead gently.

The two remained like that for quite some time. Snuggled in each other’s arms and enjoying the warmth of kindness, love, and acceptance. Both aware of the struggles and hardships that would face them in their future, but both equally as aware of the fact that they were willing to fight and overcome those challenges so long as it meant a future where the two of them could be together. Both were going to be there for each other. To each other’s anchors and support systems, and they both knew that there was no way they would rather spend their eternities in Hell.

What they were painfully unaware of, however, was the fact that as they were having their moment, a passerby was stumbling around outside of the window of their house. Swaying back and forth as he tiredly tried to focus on the path ahead of him. To cure his boredom, he would gaze into the houses whose blinds were not shut, curious as to what the denizens of Hell were up to. Had it been any other part of the city, this passerby would have simply gone about his routine and then headed back to his place of business to sleep off the drunken fog which plagued his mind. Had it been any other part of Hell, he might have just gone on his merry way and all would have been well.

But it was not any other part of Hell. It was not any other part of the city which the passerby happened upon. By fate, destiny, or simply horrible luck, he happened to be passing in front of the house where An and Vox were sharing their moment, and as he gazed into the window and saw the two embracing, the passerby’s hands balled into fists. He made a snarling sound before rushing off into the night, unseen by the happy couple. And thus, his presence went unnoticed by them, but theirs was not unknown to him. It had been before, perhaps…

But their secret was no longer as safe as they might have liked to believe.


End file.
